Do we know what we've learned from listening to the news?
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 7, 2026

Making Sense of Listening: The IMAP Test Battery
Published on: October 11, 2010
1University of South Florida, Department of Psychology, Tampa 33620-8200.
Abstract:
This study investigates the relationship between knowledge acquisition and an awareness of that knowledge within the context of listening to the news. Subjects listened to a recording of a radio news program consisting of regular news items as well as editorials, manipulated to be of high or low personal relevance. They then completed a surprise memory test and rated their confidence in their answers. In contrast to many studies, the results indicated a strong positive confidence-accuracy relationship. Confidence ratings were generally a better predictor of an individual's performance than were predictions based on item difficulty. Whereas subjects reported strong and accurate feelings of knowing, they apparently lacked complementary feelings of not knowing. The implications of these findings and others are discussed.
Related Concept Videos
Hindsight Biases
The Availability Heuristic
Steps in Outbreak Investigation
Hearing
The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison
Communication
Within...