Tuesday March 17, 10:45-11:45

Remembering and Knowing 1988-1998: Findings, Theories, and Problems

John M. Gardiner

(Psychology Department, City University, England)

Remembering and knowing are subjective states of awareness of memory that can be measured by the remember and know responses introduced by Endel Tulving (1985). In his theory, remembering reflects autonoetic consciousness, which gives rise to the conscious recollection of previous events as personally experienced, and knowing reflects noetic consciousness, which gives rise to a more abstract awareness of the past,without the recollection of any personal experiences. Knowing can relate not only to general knowledge, however, but also to a single recent encounter, providing that encounter is not remembered.

Over the last ten years an increasing number of recognition memory studies have included these responses. At least three sources of converging evidence now attest their value. Many independent variables have been found to dissociate remembering from knowing, or knowing from remembering,especially variables that mainly engage either conceptual processes or perceptual processes. Quite a few subject variables also give rise to dissociations between remembering and knowing, including age, amnesia and autism. And there is also other evidence of selective effects of drugs,such as alcohol, and of correlates with measures of brain function, such as event-related potentials.

I shall review some of this evidence and also evaluate current theories of remembering and knowing. These include the idea that remembering and knowing are respectively associated (1) with two different mind brain systems, episodic and semantic memory, (2) with distinctiveness versus fluency in processing, and (3) with purely quantitative differences in trace strength. I shall also discuss related theories and current controversies, particularly the interpretation of know responses, and the use of additional response categories, such as allowing people to report guesses as such.

Reference

Tulving, E. (1985). Memory and Consciousness. Canadian Psychologist, 26, 1-12.