Search results
Tip of the tongue (also known as TOT, or lethologica) is the phenomenon of failing to retrieve a word or term from memory, combined with partial recall and the feeling that retrieval is imminent. [1] The phenomenon's name comes from the saying, "It's on the tip of my tongue."
TOT states are sometimes accompanied by other words that come to mind repeatedly. The speaker knows that these persistent alternates are not the target word they seek, but cannot stop the words from entering consciousness.
In psycholinguistics, the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is that feeling that a name, word, or phrase—though momentarily unrecallable—is known and will soon be recalled. According to linguist George Yule, the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon mainly occurs with uncommon words and names.
TOTs are defined as the conscious feeling that an unretrieved item is temporarily inaccessible, but that it will be retrieved (Brown, 2012; Schwartz and Pournaghdali, 2021). Most people report that TOTs occur in everyday life, sometimes, particularly for older adults, as frequently as once a day.
1 sty 2016 · Of particular interest are the studies that have analysed the phenomenon of 'tip-of-the-tongue' (TOT), which have highlighted the phonological nature of these lexical retrieval difficulties...
The tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon refers to the experience of feeling confident that one knows an answer, yet is unable to produce the word. For example, in conversation or writing most people have had the occasional experience of trying, but failing to retrieve someone's name or a word from memory.
4 sty 2011 · We define tip-of-the-tongue states (henceforth, TOTs) as the conscious feeling that accompanies or reflects upon the cognitive process of retrieval when an item that a person is trying to retrieve is temporarily inaccessible.
