Age equivalence in feeling-of-knowing experiences

Three studies investigated potential age-related differences in the reliance of healthy young and older adults on trace-access and inferential mechanisms in making feeling-of-knowing (FOK) judgments. In Experiment 1 young and older adults attempted to retrieve referents of rare-word definitions presented in a self-paced questionnaire. Recall failures were followed by FOK ratings and a report of partial knowledge of referent characteristics. Gamma coefficients revealed age equivalence in FOK accuracy, and the number of recall attempts and FOK ratings did not vary by age. Older adults reported fewer partial characteristics and made more commission errors, which suggests reliance on inferential mechanisms in addition to direct recall of target information. Experiments 2 and 3 examined age-related differences in reliance on trace-access or inferential processes via the influence of type of information primed prior to speeded recall attempt. Contrary to hypothesis, the influence of prime type did not vary by age. Reliance on trace-access and inferential mechanisms of FOK does not appear to vary by age. Individuals can be forced to rely on trace-access mechanisms for speeded FOK judgments.