General knowledge norms: Updated and expanded for German

Abstract

The general knowledge questions introduced by Nelson and Narens (Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19(3), 338–368, 1980) have been a valuable research tool in various areas of cognitive research. We translated, updated, and expanded the set of questions for German. We present a total set of 356 general knowledge questions with their recall probability as well as metacognitive measures—confidence and peer judgments—based on a university student sample (N = 512). Furthermore, we present response latencies, pairwise correlations between recall probability and metacognitive judgments as well as the most common commission errors. These general knowledge questions can be used in studies with German speaking participants in a broad range of research fields, such as memory, illusory truth, misinformation, and metacognitive processes.