Within word structure in the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Abstract

Definitions of four rare words were read to 259 undergradua tes. Those subjects who were in the tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) state recorded all the letters they knew. The within-word structure of the resulting 101 partial recalls was indistinguishable from that of similar sounding words from earlier studies. In both sets of data, morpheme-like clusters of letters were evident. The recall of high frequency clusters at the end of words could not be explained in terms of sophisticated guessing. The results support a distinct memory system for word names which is organized for use in the production and perception of speech and writing.