Knowing We Know Before We Know: EEG Correlates

of Initial Feeling-of-Knowing.

Christopher A. Paynter, Paul D. Kieffaber and Lynne M. Reder

 Carnegie Mellon University

In a replication of Reder and Ritter (1992) that also collected EEG recordings, subjects performed  a feeling-of -knowing task  which they had to rapidly determine whether the answer to a math problem was known or whether the answer had to be calculated.  Previously unfamiliar math problems were repeatedly tested over the course of the experiment and the feeling of knowing or not-knowing judgment had to be completed in 850 milliseconds (much less time than needed to retrieve the answer itself). ERP analyses uncovered waveform differences between accurate retrieve vs. calculate trials as early as 200 ms following onset of the problem.  Accurate retrieve trials showed activation primarily in the right hemisphere following problem onset, while calculate trials and inaccurate retrieve trials showed activation primarily in the left hemisphere.  Theoretical implications are discussed.