Abstract
Activity in the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) has been shown to be a strong correlate of successful recognition performance.
We assessed the degree to which the PPC mediates metacognitive judgments by assessing the feeling of knowing (FOK) for recently
learned (episodic) and well-learned (semantic) facts (e.g., “The sport that is associated with Wimbledon is . . .”). Activity
in ventral regions of the PPC was observed for strong FOKs for both sets of facts, although greater activity was observed
for episodic than for semantic facts. Strong semantic FOKs activated anterior temporal regions. Weaker FOK ratings, when contrasted
with strong FOKs, activated dorsal parietal regions, a finding that parallels contrasts during explicit tests in which low-confident
responses were compared with high-confident responses. These findings demonstrate retrieval-related parietal activity during
metacognitive judgments. Furthermore, they show that the ventral PPC is particularly engaged during context-specific, episodic
retrieval, as compared to semantic retrieval.
We assessed the degree to which the PPC mediates metacognitive judgments by assessing the feeling of knowing (FOK) for recently
learned (episodic) and well-learned (semantic) facts (e.g., “The sport that is associated with Wimbledon is . . .”). Activity
in ventral regions of the PPC was observed for strong FOKs for both sets of facts, although greater activity was observed
for episodic than for semantic facts. Strong semantic FOKs activated anterior temporal regions. Weaker FOK ratings, when contrasted
with strong FOKs, activated dorsal parietal regions, a finding that parallels contrasts during explicit tests in which low-confident
responses were compared with high-confident responses. These findings demonstrate retrieval-related parietal activity during
metacognitive judgments. Furthermore, they show that the ventral PPC is particularly engaged during context-specific, episodic
retrieval, as compared to semantic retrieval.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-11
- DOI 10.3758/s13415-012-0096-8
- Authors
- Jeremy A. Elman, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Room 3210, Tolman Hall #1650, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650, USA
- Ellen C. Klostermann, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Room 3210, Tolman Hall #1650, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650, USA
- Diane E. Marian, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Room 3210, Tolman Hall #1650, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650, USA
- Alice Verstaen, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Room 3210, Tolman Hall #1650, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650, USA
- Arthur P. Shimamura, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Room 3210, Tolman Hall #1650, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650, USA
- Journal Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience
- Online ISSN 1531-135X
- Print ISSN 1530-7026