Tongue tip phenomenon

The tip of the tongue phenomenon (also known as the TOT phenomenon (tip-of-the-tongue)) describes a state in which a word that is actually known is not or only partially available in the mental lexicon at a certain point in time .

definition

If a person cannot reproduce a word even though he is convinced that he actually knows it, the TOT phenomenon and thus the word-finding search occurs. Often the condition is accompanied by the frustrating feeling that the expression is mentally “tangible”, that it is “on the tongue ” , so to speak . The colloquial metaphor is not only used in Germany. A survey showed that an almost identical expression is used in at least 44 other languages:

English : "on the tip of the tongue"
French : "sur le bout de la langue" (also: "J'ai un trou dans la tête" - I have a hole in my head)
Spanish : "en la punta de la lengua"
Italian : "sulla punta della lingua"

It is therefore a universal phenomenon that also occurs in other language areas . The term “the TOT phenomenon” or simply “TOT” has therefore also established itself in scientific work.

Occurrence and frequency of the TOT phenomenon

The tongue tip phenomenon is, like slip of the tongue , not attributed to organic or health causes. Most people experience at least one DEAD per week, so it is not an unusual occurrence, but rather an everyday occurrence. Normally the memory of the searched word occurs again after shorter or longer periods of time or the finding is facilitated by keywords and context. TOTs are also easy to produce experimentally and are therefore well suited for scientific studies. Researchers in psycholinguistics use the phenomenon to investigate the structure of the mental lexicon and the associated research into language production processes .

The word finding process in the DEAD state

Brown / McNeill first investigated the tongue tip phenomenon in 1966. They confronted test subjects with definitions of difficult or rarely used words (e.g. nepotism = nepotism). If the test subjects could not immediately name the target word they were looking for, they found themselves in the TOT state and were asked to fill out a questionnaire. The subjects were able to provide information about:

Words with a similar meaning or sound
the number of syllables
the initial letters

Brown / McNeill came to the conclusion that in about half of the cases the first letters and number of syllables could be correctly named. Both words with similar phonological and semantic properties were produced. A division of the mental lexicon into a semantic and a phonological level cannot be ruled out. Studies in other languages have shown that test subjects were also able to indicate the grammatical gender, part of speech and article of the target word.

Dependence on age and frequency

Building on the results of Brown / McNeill, Burke et al. (1991) the occurrence of the TOT phenomenon as a function of the factors age, frequency and time interval from the last use of proper names, things and abstract words. In their study they refer to the Node Structure Theory , which is one of the interactive activation models. It states that information in the mental lexicon is stored in a network of interacting nodes, which in turn must be activated ( priming ) before the information can be accessed. In the TOT state, the connections between the nodes are weakened and access is not possible. So the word z. B. have been activated on the semantic level, but the connection to the phonological level is broken, and the word searched for cannot be named. However, if phonological priming takes place with the help of similar-sounding words, the number of TOTs can be reduced.

It was also confirmed that older people experience more TOTs. They are particularly hard at remembering proper names and overall less information about the target words. The connections between the nodes are also weakened if the word has not been called up for a long time or is generally only used very rarely.

literature

Brown, Roger / McNeill, David (1966): The "tip of the tongue" phenomenon . In: Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 5, 325–337.
Burke, Deborah / MacKay, Donald / Worthley, Joanna / Wade, Elizabeth (1991): On the Tip of the Tongue: What Causes Word Finding Failures in Young and Older Adults? In: Journal of Memory and Language 30, 542-579.
Schwartz, Bennett L. (1999): Sparkling at the end of the tongue: The etiology of tip-of-the-tongue phenomenology. In: Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 6 (3), 379–393.

Web links

Article in the world online about the tip of the tongue phenomenon

Individual evidence

↑ Brown, Roger / McNeill, David (1966): The "tip of the tongue" phenomenon . In: Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 5, 325.
↑ ^a ^b Schwartz, Bennett L. (1999): Sparkling at the end of the tongue: The etiology of tip-of-the-tongue phenomenology. In: Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 6 (3), 381.
↑ Schwartz, Bennett L. (1999): Sparkling at the end of the tongue: The etiology of tip-of-the-tongue phenomenology. In: Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 6 (3), 382.
↑ Schwartz, Bennett L. (1999): Sparkling at the end of the tongue: The etiology of tip-of-the-tongue phenomenology. In: Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 6 (3), 379.
↑ Brown, Roger / McNeill, David (1966): The "tip of the tongue" phenomenon . In: Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 5, 325-326.
↑ Brown, Roger / McNeill, David (1966): The "tip of the tongue" phenomenon . In: Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 5, 329-331.
↑ Schwartz, Bennett L. (1999): Sparkling at the end of the tongue: The etiology of tip-of-the-tongue phenomenology. In: Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 6 (3), 385.
↑ Burke, Deborah / MacKay, Donald / Worthley, Joanna / Wade, Elizabeth (1991): On the Tip of the Tongue: What Causes Word Finding Failures in Young and Older Adults? In: Journal of Memory and Language 30, 543.
↑ Burke, Deborah / MacKay, Donald / Worthley, Joanna / Wade, Elizabeth (1991): On the Tip of the Tongue: What Causes Word Finding Failures in Young and Older Adults? In: Journal of Memory and Language 30, 542-543; 555.

[1] Brown, Roger / McNeill, David (1966): The "tip of the tongue" phenomenon . In: Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 5, 325.

[Schwartz,_Bennett_L._1999,_Seite_381-2] Schwartz, Bennett L. (1999): Sparkling at the end of the tongue: The etiology of tip-of-the-tongue phenomenology. In: Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 6 (3), 381.

[3] Schwartz, Bennett L. (1999): Sparkling at the end of the tongue: The etiology of tip-of-the-tongue phenomenology. In: Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 6 (3), 382.

[4] Schwartz, Bennett L. (1999): Sparkling at the end of the tongue: The etiology of tip-of-the-tongue phenomenology. In: Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 6 (3), 379.

[5] Brown, Roger / McNeill, David (1966): The "tip of the tongue" phenomenon . In: Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 5, 325-326.

[6] Brown, Roger / McNeill, David (1966): The "tip of the tongue" phenomenon . In: Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 5, 329-331.

[7] Schwartz, Bennett L. (1999): Sparkling at the end of the tongue: The etiology of tip-of-the-tongue phenomenology. In: Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 6 (3), 385.

[8] Burke, Deborah / MacKay, Donald / Worthley, Joanna / Wade, Elizabeth (1991): On the Tip of the Tongue: What Causes Word Finding Failures in Young and Older Adults? In: Journal of Memory and Language 30, 543.

[9] Burke, Deborah / MacKay, Donald / Worthley, Joanna / Wade, Elizabeth (1991): On the Tip of the Tongue: What Causes Word Finding Failures in Young and Older Adults? In: Journal of Memory and Language 30, 542-543; 555.