Using the phenomenology of knowledge-based retrieval failures in younger and older adults to characterize proximity to retrieval success and identify a Zone of Proximal Retrieval

Across the lifespan, accumulated knowledge can become inaccessible, with everyone having experienced retrieval failures. These failures are accompanied by varied mental experiences (phenomenology), but little research has been done to distinctly characterize their full range. The present studies examined the extent to which varying failures, ranging from imminent retrieval like tip-of-the-tongue states to unavailability, are associated with distinct phenomenological experiences. Proposing a Proximity to Retrieval Success framework for retrieval failures, we hypothesize that the probability of retrieval success (accessibility) will vary systematically from high to low, with intermediate probabilities reflecting a Zone of Proximal Retrieval. Older and younger adults answered age-normed, short-answer general knowledge questions and selected one of four phenomenological retrieval failure experiences when unable to answer. In Experiment 1, participants completed a subsequent multiple-choice test, whereas Experiments 2 and 3 involved correct answer feedback before completing a final short-answer test. Consistently, and in line with predictions from the Proximity to Retrieval Success framework, accuracy on the subsequent test systematically increased as a function of the selected phenomenological retrieval failure state’s proximity to the accessibility threshold, with the lowest accuracy for items judged as not known. These findings indicate robust successful metacognition linking phenomenological experiences of retrieval failures with behavioral memory performance. Implications for the practical and theoretical usefulness of this work are discussed. (215 words)