Knowing That You Know and Knowing That You Don't Know: A fMRI Study on Feeling-of-Knowing (FOK)

Abstract

Neural correlates of feeling-of-knowing (FOK) were investigated by event-related fMRI and unrelated word-pairs in a standard Recall-Judgment-Recognition (RJR) procedure. According to performance in post-scan criterion test, FOK trials were categorized as ”pp” (positive-FOK, negative-recognition), and ”PN” (positive-FOK, negative-recognition). Contrasts between accurate FOK predictions (PP, NN) and inaccurate ones (NP, PN) revealed no difference. Further analysis indicated PP and NN were different; combining them together might conceal differences. Specifically, PP was associated with left prefrontal activities in BA 8 or BA 47 relative to NN or NP respectively. This observation queried the conventional view that regarded PP and NN as the same kind of ”accurate FOK predictions”, and called for dissociations between feeling-of-knowing (PP) and feeling-of-not-knowing (NN).