Tip-of-the-Tongue States ☆

The tip-of-the-tongue state as a form of access to information: Use of tip-of-the-tongue states for strategic adaptive test-taking.

“…When failing to produce the correct answer during the first chance, participants successfully identified the answer on the second chance an average of 1.34 trials (SD = 1.85) in the no-reminder condition and an average of 2.33 trials (SD = 5.24) in the reminder condition. Participants successfully identified partial target information on an average of 1.92 trials (SD = 2.16) in the no-reminder condition and an average of 2.29 trials (SD = 3.10) in the reminder condition; these are consistent with the rates reported in prior research (e.g., Cleary, 2006Cleary, , 2017Cleary, , 2019Cleary & Claxton, 2015). Due to the low levels of second chance answering and partial attribute identification and the potential for floor effects, coupled with the fact that these were peripheral to our aims, we refrained from statistically analyzing these across conditions.…”

“…When focusing on instances of initial word generation failure, participants successfully identified the answer on the second chance an average of 1.90 trials (SD = 1.68). Participants successfully identified partial target information on an average of 1.45 trials (SD = 1.38), which is in line with previous research (e.g., Cleary, 2006Cleary, , 2017Cleary, , 2019Cleary & Claxton, 2015). Note that participants in the multiple-choiceonly condition were not given the opportunity to successfully answer the questions via cued recall.…”

“…The present study set out to explore the idea that if TOT states reflect a form of retrieval success rather than failure (e.g., Cleary, 2017Cleary, , 2019Gollan & Brown, 2006), then rather than being a source of frustration or failure in a test-taking situation, they instead could present an opportunity if permitted to be applied strategically. Specifically, the present study examined whether, following a failure to self-generate a short answer, participants could potentially use TOTs to signal when to strategically request a multiple-choice set of options in a risk-involved testing situation.…”

“…The tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) state-the feeling of being on the verge of retrieving a momentarily inaccessible word from memory-has traditionally been viewed as reflecting an instance of retrieval failure (e.g., Brown, 1991Brown, , 2012Schwartz, 2002). However, TOT states could be viewed as a unique form of retrieval success (Brown, 2012;Cleary, 2017Cleary, , 2019Gollan & Brown, 2006). For example, Cleary (2019) suggested that TOTs indicate the presence of something in memory, as opposed to nothing at all.…”

On the relationship between tip-of-the-tongue states and partial recollective experience: Illusory partial recollective access during tip-of-the-tongue states.

“…This is not altogether different from what Koriat (1993) proposed in his accessibility model of feelings of knowing or from the proposed role of accessibility in illusions of knowing (Zawadzka & Hanczakowski, 2020). Although feelings of knowing are now known to involve different mechanisms than TOTs (see Brown, 2012, or Cleary, 2017, for reviews), the basic idea might be applicable to TOTs. That is, the perceived ease with which information can be generated in response to the general knowledge question might itself be used to infer the presence of a TOT state in much the same way as this is thought to contribute to feelings of knowing (e.g., Koriat & Levy-Sadot, 2001; Thomas et al, 2012).…”