On predicting the future states of awareness for recognition of unrecallable items

Two experiments were conducted that examined people's predictive accuracy for their future states of awareness. In both experiments, participants learned word pairs and were tested with a cued recall test. When recall failed, predictive judgments were obtained. In Experiment 1, feeling of knowing judgments predicted not only future recognition but also the state of awareness as remembered or known that was associated with that recognition. In Experiment 2, predictive remember-know judgments were found to be accurately diagnostic of future states of awareness as well. One conclusion to be drawn from these data is that recollective details are among the partial knowledge that is retrieved in the absence of successful cued recall. General implications for theories of feeling of knowing are discussed.