Dissociating Knowing and the Feeling of Knowing: Further Evidence for the Accessibility Model

Predictions derived from the accessibility model of the feeling of knowing (FOK; A. Koriat, 1993) were tested regarding the basis of FOK and the reason for its accuracy. According to the model, FOK monitors the accessibility of partial information about unrecallable targets, and its validity depends on the accuracy of that information. General knowledge questions were classified in terms of their tendency to precipitate answers in recall (accessibility, or ACC), and the proportion of such answers that were correct (output-bound accuracy, or OBA). FOK increased with increasing ACC independent of actual recognition memory, and the FOK-recognition correlation varied dramatically with OBA: It was positive for high-OBA questions, but nil or negative for low-OBA questions. The results suggest that people have no privileged access to the contents of their memory over and above what they can retrieve from it.