Recognition without identification (RWI) and the feeling of knowing (FOK): a comparison of retrospective and prospective-based familiarity judgments

Abstract

Recognition without identification (RWI) and the feeling of knowing (FOK) are two memory paradigms that attempt to tap awareness of memory states in the absence of identification of a target. Although both RWI and FOKs have been described using the example of recognizing a face as familiar without recalling who that person is, no empirical evidence has yet demonstrated that they are based on a common underlying mechanism. The presented studies attempted to directly compare RWI and FOK judgments by utilizing a hybrid paradigm containing commonly used RWI and FOK methodologies that differed by a single manipulation of instruction type. The data demonstrated that participants gave significantly different patterns of ratings in the RWI condition than the FOK condition, suggesting different underlying mechanisms of RWI and FOK judgments.