Distinguishing states of awareness from confidence during retrieval: evidence from amnesia.
Two experiments were conducted to determine whether recollective experience is distinguishable from confidence. In Experiment 1, we tested college participants in a within-subjects design and replicated Gardiner and Java's (1990) findings from a between-subjects design. We observed higher remember judgments for words than for nonwords, but higher know judgments for nonwords than for words. For confidence judgments, we obtained greater sure than unsure responses for both words and nonwords. In Experiment 2, we tested amnesic participants and matched control participants. Control participants produced the same pattern of results as college participants, but the results of amnesic participants diverged in an important way. For confidence judgments, the amnesic participants, like the control and college participants, made more sure than unsure judgments to both words and nonwords. But for recollective judgments, amnesic participants did not produce the crossover interaction for words and nonwords. This striking difference between the performance of memory-intact and amnesic participants demonstrates that recollective judgments and confidence that accompany retrieval are not isomorphic psychological experiences.
Rajaram
Suparna
S
Department of Psychology, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York 11794-2500, USA. suparna.rajaram@sunysb.edu
Hamilton
Maryellen
M
Bolton
Anthony
A
D000328:Adult; D000647:Amnesia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001364:Awareness; D003243:Consciousness; D006801:Humans; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D018794:Problem-Based Learning; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D020377:Self Efficacy; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology