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J O U R N A L O F V E R B AL L E AR N IN G A N D V E R BA L B E R AV I OR 5 , 3 2 5 - 3 3 7 1 9 6 6 )
The T ip of the Ton gue Phenomenon
ROGER BROWN AND DAVID McNEILL 1
Harvard University Cambridge Massachusetts
The tip of the tongue (TOT) phenomenon is a state in which one cannot quite
recall a familiar word but can recall words of similar form and meaning. Several hundred
such states were precipitated by reading to Ss the definitions of English words of low
frequency and asking them to try to recall the words. It was demonstrated that while in
the TOT state, and before recall occurred, Ss had knowledge of some of the letters in the
missing word, the number of syllables in it, and the location of the primary stress. The
nearer S was to successful recall the more accurate the information he possessed. The re-
call of parts of words and attributes of Words is termed generic recall. The interpreta-
tion offered for generic recall involves the assumption that users of a language possess the
mental equivalent of a dictionary. The features tha t figure in generic recall may be
entered in the dictionary sooner than other features and so, perhaps, are wired into a
more elaborate associative network. These more easi ly retrieved features of low-
frequency words may be the features to which we chiefly attend in word-perception.
lnae features favored by attention, especially the beginnings and endings of words,
appear to carry more information than the features that are not favored, in particular
the middles of words.
Willi am James wrote, in 1893: Suppose
we try to recall a forgotten name. The state
of our consciousness is peculiar. There is a
gap therein; but no mere gap. It is a gap
that is intensel y active. A sort of wraith of
the n ame is in it, becko ning us in a given
direction, making us at moments tingle with
the sense of our closeness and then letting
us sink back without the longed-for term. If
wrong names are proposed to us, this singu-
larly definite gap acts immediately so as to
negate them. They do not fit into its mould.
And the gap of one word does not feel like
the gap of another, all empty of content as
both might seem necessarily to be when de-
scribed as gaps (p. 251).
The tip of the tongue (T OT) state in-
volves a failure to recall a word of which one
has knowledge. The evidence of knowledge is
either a n e vent ually successful recall or else
an act of recognition that occurs, without
Now at the University of Michigan.
1 9 6 6 b y A c a d e m i c P r e ss I n c .
additional training, when recall has failed.
The class of cases defined by the conjunction
of knowledge and a failure of recall is a
large one. The TOT state, which James de-
scribed, seems to be a small subclass in which
recall is felt to be imminent.
For several months we watched for TOT
states in ourselves. Unable to recall the name
of the street on which a relative lives, one
of us thought of
Congress
and
Cor in th
and
Concord
and then looked up the address
and learned that it was
Cornish.
The words
that had come to mind have certain proper-
ties in common with the word that had been
sought (the target word ): all four begin
with
Co;
all are two-syllable words; all put
the primary stress on the first syllable. After
this experience we began putting direct ques-
tions to ourselves when we fell into the TOT
state, questions as to the number of syllables
in the t arget word, its in itial letter, etc.
Woodworth (1934), before us, made a
record of data for natu rally occurring TO T
325
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326 BRO WN A ND MC N EI LL
s t a t e s a n d W e n z l ( 1 9 3 2 , 1 9 3 6 ) d i d t h e sa m e
f o r G e r m a n w o r d s . T h e i r r e s u l t s a r e s i m i l a r
t o t h o s e w e o b t a i n e d a n d c o n s i s t e n t w i t h t h e
f o ll o w in g p r e l i m i n a r y c h a r a c t e ri z a t i o n . W h e n
c o m p l e t e r e c a l l o f a w o r d i s n o t p r e s e n t l y
p o s s i b l e b u t i s f e l t t o b e i m m i n e n t , o n e c a n
o f t e n c o r r e c t l y re c a l l t h e g e n e r a l t y p e o f t h e
w o r d ; g e n e r i c r e c a l l m a y s u c c e e d w h e n p a r -
t i c u l a r r e c a l l f a il s . T h e r e s e e m t o b e t w o
c o m m o n v a r i e t i e s o f g e n e r i c re c a l l . ( a )
S o m e t i m e s a p a r t o f t h e t a r g e t w o r d i s
r e c a l l e d , a l e t t e r o r t w o , a s y l l a b l e , o r a f f ix .
P a r t i a l r e c a l l is n e c e s s a r i l y a l s o g e n e r i c s i n c e
t h e c l a s s o f w o r d s d e f i n e d b y t h e p o s s e s s i o n
o f a n y
p a r t
o f t h e t a r g e t w o r d w i l l i n c l u d e
w o r d s o t h e r t h a n t h e t a r g e t . ( b ) S o m e t i m e s
t h e a b s t r a c t f o r m o f t h e t a r g e t i s r e c a l l e d ,
p e r h a p s t h e f a c t t h a t i t w a s a t w o - s y l l a b l e
s e q u e n c e w i t h t h e p r i m a r y s t r e s s o n t h e f i r st
s y l l a b l e . T h e w h o l e w o r d i s r e p r e s e n t e d i n
a b s t r a c t f o r m r e c a l l b u t n o t o n t h e l e t t e r -
b y - l e t t e r le v e l t h a t c o n s t i t u t e s i t s i d e n t i t y .
T h e r e c a l l o f a n a b s t r a c t f o r m i s a ls o n e c e s -
s a r i l y
g e n e r i c ,
s i n c e a n y s u c h f o r m d e f i n e s a
c l a s s o f w o r d s e x t e n d i n g b e y o n d t h e t a r g e t .
W e n z l a n d W o o d w o r t h h a d w o r k e d w i th
s m a l l c o l l e c t i o n s o f d a t a f o r n a t u r a l l y o c -
c u r r i n g T O T s t a te s . T h e s e d a t a w e r e , fo r
t h e m o s t p a r t , p r o v i d e d b y t h e i n v e s t i g a t o r s ;
w e r e c o l le c t e d i n a n u n s y s t e m a t i c f a s h i o n ;
a n d w e r e a n a l y z e d i n a n i m p r e s s i o n i s t i c n o n -
q u a n t i t a t i v e w a y . I t s e e m e d t o u s t h a t s u c h
d a t a l e f t t h e f a c t s o f g e n e r i c r e c a l l i n d o u b t .
A n o c c a s i o n a l c o r r e s p o n d e n c e b e t w e e n a r e -
t r i e v e d w o r d a n d a t a r g e t w o r d w i t h r e s p e c t
t o n u m b e r o f s y l l a b l e s , s t r e s s p a t t e r n o r i n i -
t i a l l e t t e r i s , a f t e r a l l , t o b e e x p e c t e d b y
c h a n c e . S e v e r a l m o n t h s o f s e l f - o b s e r v a t i o n
a n d a s k i n g - o u r - f r i e n d s y i e l d e d f e w e r t h a n a
d o z e n g o o d c a s e s a n d w e r e a l i z e d t h a t a n
i m p r o v e d m e t h o d o f d a t a c o l le c t io n w as
e s s e n t i a l .
W e t h o u g h t i t m i g h t p a y t o p r o s p e c t
f o r T O T s t a t e s b y r e a d i n g t o S d e f i n i t i o n s
o f u n c o m m o n E n g l i s h w o r d s a n d a s k i n g h i m
t o s u p p l y t h e w o r d s . T h e p r o c e d u r e w a s
g i v e n a p r e l i m i n a r y t e s t w i t h n i n e S s w h o
w e r e i n d i v i d u a l l y i n t e r v i e w e d f o r 2 h r s e a c h . 2
I n 5 7 in s t a n c e s a n S w a s , i n fa c t , s e i z e d
b y a T O T s t a t e . T h e s i g n s o f i t w e r e u n -
m i s t a k a b l e ; h e w o u l d a p p e a r t o b e in m i l d
t o r m e n t , s o m e t h i n g l i k e t h e b r i n k o f a
s n e e z e, a n d i f h e f o u n d t h e w o r d h i s r e l ie f
w a s c o n s i d e r a b l e . W h i l e s e a r c h i n g f o r t h e
t a r g e t S t o l d u s a ll t h e w o r d s t h a t c a m e t o
h i s m i n d . H e v o l u n t e e r ed t h e i n f o r m a t i o n
t h a t s o m e o f th e m r e s e m b l e d t h e t a r g e t i n
s o u n d b u t n o t i n m e a n i n g ; o t h e r s h e w as
s u r e w e r e s i m i l a r in m e a n i n g b u t n o t i n
s o u n d . T h e E i n t r u d e d o n S 's a g o n y w i th
t w o q u e s t i o n s : ( a ) H o w m a n y s y l l a b l e s h a s
t h e t a r g e t w o r d ? ( b ) W h a t i s i t s f i rs t l e t t e r ?
A n s w e r s t o t h e f i r s t q u e s t i o n w e r e c o r r e c t
i n 4 7 % o f a ll ca s e s a n d a n s w e r s t o t h e
s e c o n d q u e s t i o n w e r e c o r r e c t in 5 1 % o f t h e
c a s e s . T h e s e o u t c o m e s e n c o u r a g e d u s t o b e -
l i e v e t h a t g e n e r i c r e c a l l w a s r e a l a n d t o d e -
v i s e a g r o u p p r o c e d u r e t h a t w o u l d f u r t h e r
s p e e d u p t h e r a t e o f d a t a c o l l e c t i o n .
METH O D
S u b j e c t s
Fi f ty- s ix H ar v ar d and Radcl if fe under gr adua tes
par t ic ipa ted in one of three evening sess ions; each
sess ion was 2 hrs long. The Ss were volunteers
f rom a large General Education Course and were
paid for their t ime.
Word List . The list consisted of 49 words which,
according to the Thorndike-Lorge W o r d B o o k
(1952) occur at leas t once per four mil l ion words
but not so of ten as once per one mil l ion words .
The level is suggested by these examples: apse ,
nepotism, c loa ca, am berg ris , a n d sampan. W e
though t the w ords used were likely to be in the
passive or recognit ion vocabu lar ies of ou r Ss bu t
not in their active recall vocabularies. There were
6 words of 1 syl lable; 19 of 2 syl lables ; 20 of 3
syllables ; 4 of 4 syl lables . For each word we used
a definition from The American Co llege Dictionary
(Barnha r t , 1948 ) edited so as to contain no w ords
that closely resembled the one being defined.
Response Sheet. T he
response sheet was la id
off in vertical columns headed as follows:
Intended word d- One I was thinking of ) .
- - N o t ) .
2 We wish to thank M r. Char les Ho llen for
doing the pretes t interviews.
8/11/2019 Brown Mcneill 1966
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a T I P O F T H E T O N G U E P H E N O M E N O N 3 7
Nu mb er o] sy llab les 1 -5) .
Initial le tter .
Words oJ s imilar sound. (1 . Closest in so und )
2 . Mid d le )
(3 . F a r th e s t i n S o u n d )
Words oJ s imilar meaning .
Wo r d y o u h a d in m in d i ] n o t i n t e n d e d w o r d .
P r o c e d u r e
W e i n s t r u c t e d S s t o t h e f o l l o w i n g e f f e c t .
I n t h i s e x p e r i m e n t w e a r e c o n c e r n e d w i t h t h a t
s t a t e o f m i n d i n w h i c h a p e r s o n is u n a b l e t o
t h i n k o f a w o r d t h a t h e i s c e r t a in h e k n o w s , t h e
s t a t e o f m i n d i n w h i c h a w o r d s e e m s t o b e o n
t h e t i p o f o n e ' s to n g u e . O u r t e c h n i q u e f o r p r e -
c i p i t a t i n g s u c h s t a t e s i s , i n g e n e r a l , t o r e a d d e f t -
n i fi o n s o f u n c o m m o n w o r d s a n d a s k t h e s u b je c t
t o r e c a l l t h e w o r d .
( 1 ) W e w i l l f i r s t r e a d t h e d e f i n i t i o n o f a l o w -
f r e q u e n c y w o r d .
( 2 ) I f y o u s h o u l d h a p p e n t o k n o w t h e w o r d
a t o n c e , o r t h i n k y o u d o , o r , i f y o u s h o u l d s i m p l y
n o t k n o w i t, t h e n t h e r e i s n o t h i n g f u r t h e r f o r
y o u t o d o a t t h e m o m e n t . 5 u s t w a i t.
( 3 ) I f y o u a r e u n a b l e t o t h i n k o f t h e w o r d
b u t f e el s u r e t h a t y o u k n o w i t a n d t h a t i t is o n
t h e v e rg e o f c o m i n g b a c k t o y o u t h e n y o u a r e
i n a T O T s t a t e a n d s h o u l d b e g i n a t o n c e t o f i l l
i n t h e c o l u m n s o f t h e r e s p o n s e s h e e t.
( 4 ) A f t e r r e a d i n g e a c h d e f i n i t io n w e w i l l a s k
w h e t h e r a n y o n e i s i n th e T O T s t at e . A n y o n e w h o
i s i n t h a t s t a t e s h o u l d r a is e h i s h a n d . T h e r e s t o f
u s w il l t h e n w a i t u n t i l t h o s e i n t h e T O T s t a t e
h a v e w r i t t e n o n t h e a n s w e r s h e e t a l l t h e i n f o r m a -
t i o n t h e y a r e a b l e t o p r o v i d e .
( 5 ) W h e n e v e r y o n e w h o h a s b e en in t h e T O T
s t a t e h a s s i g n a l l e d u s t o p r o c e e d , w e w i l l r e a d
t h e t a r g e t w o r d . A t t h i s t i m e , e v e r y o n e i s t o
w r i t e t h e w o r d i n t h e l e f t m o s t c o l u m n o f t h e
r e sp o n s e s he e t. T h o s e o f y o u w h o h a v e k n o w n
t h e w o r d s i n c e fi r s t i t s d e f i n i ti o n w a s r e a d a r e
a s k e d n o t t o w r i te i t u n t i l t h i s p o in t . T h o s e o f
y o u w h o s i m p l y d i d n o t k n o w t h e w o r d o r w h o
h a d t h o u g h t o f a d i f f e re n t w o r d w i l l w r it e n o w
t h e w o r d w e r e a d . F o r t h o s e o f y o u w h o h a v e
b e e n i n t h e T O T s t a t e t w o e v e n t u a l i t i e s a r e p o s -
s ib l e. T h e w o r d r e a d m a y s t ri k e y o u a s d e f in i t e ly
t h e w o r d y o u h a v e b e e n s e e k i n g . I n t h a t c a s e
p l e a se w r i t e ' + ' a f t e r t h e w o r d , a s t h e i n s t r u c -
t i o n s a t t h e h e a d o f t h e c o l u m n d i r e c t. T h e o t h e r
p o s s i b i l i t y i s t h a t y o u w i l l n o t b e s u r e w h e t h e r
t h e w o r d r e a d i s t h e o n e y o u h a v e b e e n s e e k i n g
o r , i n d e e d , y o u m a y b e s u r e t h a t i t i s n o t . I n t h i s
c a s e y o u a r e a s k e d t o w r i t e t h e s i g n ' - - ' a f t e r
t h e w o rd . S o m e t i m e s w h e n t h e w o r d r e a d o u t
i s n o t t h e o n e y o u h a v e b e e n s e e k i n g y o u r a c t u a l
t a r g e t m a y c o m e t o m i n d . I n t h i s c a se , i n a d d i -
t i o n t o t h e m i n u s s i g n i n t h e l e f t m o s t c o l u m n ,
p l e a se w r i te t h e a c t u a l t a r g e t w o r d i n t h e r i g h t -
m o s t c o l u m n .
( 6 ) N o w w e c o m e t o t h e c o l u m n e n t r ie s
t h e m s e l v e s . T h e f i r s t t w o e n t r i e s , t h e g u e s s a s to
t h e n u m b e r o f s y l l a b l e s a n d t h e i n i t i a l le t t e r , a r e
r e q u i r e d . T h e r e m a i n i n g e n t r i e s s h o u l d b e f i l l e d
o u t i f p o s si b le . W h e n y o u a r e i n a T O T s t a t e ,
w o r d s t h a t a r e r e l a t e d t o t h e t a r g e t w o r d . d o
a l m o s t a l w a y s c o m e t o m i n d . L i st t h e m a s t h e y
c o m e , b u t s e p a r a t e w o r d s w h i c h y o u t h i n k r e -
s e m b l e t h e t a r g e t i n s o u n d f r o m w o r d s w h i c h y o u
t h i n k r e s e m b l e t h e t a r g e t i n m e a n i n g .
( 7 ) W h e n y o u h a v e f i n i sh e d a l l y o u r e n t r ie s ,
b u t b e f o r e y o u s i g n a l u s t o r e a d t h e i n t e n d e d
t a r g e t w o r d , l o ok a g a i n a t t h e w o r d s y o u h a v e
l i s t e d a s ' W o r d s o f s i m i l a r s o u n d . ' I f p o s s i b l e ,
r a n k t h e se , a s t h e in s t r u c t i o n s a t t h e h e a d o f t h e
c o l u m n d i r e c t , i n t e r m s o f t h e d e g r e e o f t h e i r
s e e m i n g r e s e m b l a n c e t o t h e t a r g e t . T h i s m u s t b e
d o n e w i t h o u t k n o w l e d g e o f w h a t t h e t a r g e t a c -
t u a l l y i s .
( 8 ) T h e s e a r c h p r o c e d u r e o f a p e r so n in t h e
T O T s t a t e w i l l so m e t i m e s se r v e t o r e t ri e v e t h e
m i s s i n g w o r d b e f o r e h e h a s f i n i s h e d f i ll i n g i n t h e
c o l u m n s a n d b e fo r e w e r e a d o u t t h e w o r d . W h e n
t h i s h a p p e n s p l ea s e m a r k t h e p l a ce w h e r e i t
h a p p e n s w i t h t h e w o r d s G o t i t a n d d o n o t
prov ide any more da ta .
R E S U L T S
C l a s s es o f D a t a
T h e r e w e r e 3 6 0 i n s t a n c e s, a c ro s s a ll w o r d s a n d
a l l S s , i n w h i c h a T O T s t a t e w a s s i g n a l l e d . O f
t h i s t o t a l , 2 3 3 w e r e p o s i t i v e T O T s . A p o s i t i v e T O T
i s o n e fo r w h i c h t h e t a r g e t w o r d i s k n o w n a n d ,
c o n s e q u e n t l y , o n e f o r w h i c h t h e d a t a o b t a i n e d c a n
b e s c o re d a s a c c u r a t e o r i n a c c u r a t e . I n t h o s e c a s e s
w h e r e t h e t a r g e t w a s n o t t h e w o r d i n t e n d e d b u t
s o m e o t h e r w o r d w h i c h S f i n a l l y r e c a l l e d a n d w r o t e
i n t h e r i g h t m o s t c o l u m n h i s d a t a w e r e c h e c k e d
a g a i n s t t h a t w o r d , h i s e ff e c t i v e t a r g e t . A n e g a t i v e
T O T i s o n e f o r w h i c h t h e S j u d g e d t h e w o r d r e a d
o u t n o t t o h a v e b e e n h i s t a r g e t a n d , i n a d d i t i o n ,
o n e in w h i c h S p r o v e d u n a b l e t o r e c a ll h i s o w n
f u n c t i o n a l t a r g e t .
T h e d a t a p r o v i d e d b y S w h i l e h e se a r c h e d f o r
t h e t a r g e t w o r d a r e o f t w o k i n d s : e x p l i c i t g u e s s e s
a s to t h e n u m b e r o f s y l la b l e s i n t h e t a r g e t a n d t h e
i n it ia l le t t e r o f t h e t a r g e t ; w o r d s t h a t c a m e t o m i n d
w h i l e h e s e a r c h e d f o r t h e t a rg e t . T h e w o r d s t h a t
c a m e t o m i n d w e r e c l a s s if i e d b y S i n t o 2 2 4 w o r d s
s i m i l a r i n s o u n d to th e t a r g e t ( h e r e a f t e r c a l l e d S S
w o r d s ) a n d 9 5 w o r d s s i m i la r in m e a n i n g t o t h e
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328 BROWN AND MC NEILL
ta rge t (hereaf te r ca l led SM words ) . The S 's in-
format ion about the number of sy l lab les in , and
the in i t ia l le t te r of the ta rge t may be infe rred f rom
correspondences be tween the ta rge t and h is SS words
as well as d irectly discovered: fro m his explicit
guesses. For his knowledge of the stress pattern of
the ta rge t and of le t te rs in the ta rge t , o ther than
the in i t ia l le t te r , we must re ly on the SS words
alone since explicit guesses were not required.
To convey a sense of the SS and SM words we
offe r the fo l lowing examples. When the ta rge t was
sampan
the SS words (not a l l o f them rea l words)
included:
Saipan, Siam, Cheyenne, sarong, sanching,
a n d sympoon. The SM words were : barge, house-
boat, a n d junk. Wh e n th e t a rg e t w a s caduceus the
SS words included: Casadesus, AescheIus, cephalus,
a n d
leucosis. The
SM words were :
fasces, Hippo-
crates, lictor,
a n d
snake.
The spelling in all cases
is S's own.
We wil l , in th is report , use the SM words to
provide base l ine da ta aga inst which to eva lua te
the accuracy of the explicit guesses and of the SS
words. The SM words a re words produced under
the spe l l of the posi t ive TOT sta te but judged by
S to resemble the ta rge t in meaning ra ther than
sound. We are qui te sure tha t the SM words a re
somewhat more l ike the ta rge t than would be a
col lec t ion of words produced by Ss wi th no knowl-
edge of the ta rge t . However , the SM words make
a be t te r compara t ive base l ine than any o ther da ta
we collected.
Ge ne ra l Prob l e ms o / Ana l y s i s
The da ta present problems of ana lysis tha t a r e
not common in psychology. To begin wi th , the
words of the l i s t d id not re l iab ly prec ip i ta te
T T
states. Of the original 49 words, all but
zither
suc-
ceeded at least once; the range was from one success
to n ine . The Ss made ac tua l ta rge ts of 51 words
not on the or ig ina l l i s t and a l l but f ive of these
were pursued by one S only . Clear ly none of the
100 words came even close to precipitating a TOT
sta te in a l l 56 Ss. Fur thermore , the Ss var ied in
the i r suscept ib i l i ty to TOT sta tes . There were n ine
who exper ienced none a t a l l in a 2-hr per iod; the
la rgest number exper ienced in such a per iod by one
S was e ight . In out da ta , then , the ent r ies for one
word wi l l not usua l ly involve the same Ss or even
the same number of Ss as the ent r ies for another
word . The entr ies for one S need not involve the
same words or even the same number of words as
the ent r ies for another S . Consequent ly for the tests
we shall want to make there are no significance tests
tha t we can be sure a re appropria te .
In s ta t i s t ica l theory our problem is ca l led the
fragm entary da ta problem. ' ,~ The best th ing to do
with f ragmentary da ta i s to report them very fu l ly
and ana lyze them in severa l d i f fe rent ways. Our
de ta i led knowledge of these da ta suggests tha t
the problems a re not se r ious for , whi le there i s
some var ia t ion in the pul l of words and the sus-
cept ib i l i ty of Ss there i s not much var ia t ion in the
qua l i ty of the da ta . The charac te r of the mater ia l
reca l led is much the same from word to word and
S t o S .
N u m b e r o f S y l l a b l e s
A s t h e m a i n i t e m o f e v id e n c e t h a t S i n a
T O T s t a t e c a n r e c a ll w i t h s i g n i f i c a n t s u c c es s
t h e n u m b e r o f s y l la b l e s in a t a r g e t w o r d h e
h a s n o t y e t f o u n d w e o f fe r T a b l e 1. T h e
e n t r i e s o n t h e d i a g o n a l a r e i n s t a n c e s i n w h i c h
g u e s s e s w e r e c o r r ec t . T h e o r d e r o f t h e m e a n s
o f t h e e x p l i c i t g u e s s e s is t h e s a m e a s t h e
o r d e r o f t h e a c t u a l n u m b e r s o f s y l la b l e s in
t h e t a r g e t w o rd s . T h e r a n k o r d e r c o r r e l a t i o n
b e t w e e n t h e t w o is 1 .0 a n d s u c h a c o r r e l a t i o n
i s s i g n i f i c a n t w i t h a p < . 00 1 ( o n e - t a i l e d )
e v e n w h e n o n l y f i ve i t e m s a r e c o r r e l a t e d . T h e
m o d e s o f t h e g u e s se s c o r r e s p o n d e x a c t l y w i t h
t h e a c t u a l n u m b e r s o f s yl l a bl e s , f o r t h e
v a l u e s o n e t h r o u g h t h r e e ; f o r w o r d s o f f o u r
a n d f iv e s y l l a b l e s th e m o d e s c o n t i n u e t o b e
t h r e e .
W h e n a l l T O T s a r e c o m b i n e d , t h e c o n t ri -
b u t i o n s t o t h e t o t a l e f f e c ts o f i n d i v i d u a l
S s a n d o f i n d i v i d u a l w o r d s a r e u n e q u a l . W e
h a v e m a d e a n a n a l y s i s i n w h i c h e a c h w o r d
c o u n t s b u t o n c e . T h i s w a s a c c o m p l i s h e d b y
c a l c u l a t i n g t h e m e a n o f t h e g u es s e s m a d e b y
a l l S s f o r w h o m a p a r t i c u l a r w o r d p r e c i p i -
t a t e d a T O T s t a t e a n d t a k i n g t h a t m e a n a s
t h e s co r e f o r t h a t w o r d . T h e n e w m e a n s c a l-
c u l a t e d w i t h a l l w o r d s e q u a l l y w e i g h t e d w e r e ,
i n o r d e r : 1 . 6 2 ; 2 . 3 0 ; 2 . 8 0 ; 3 . 3 3 ; a n d 3 . 5 0 .
T h e s e v a l u e s a r e c l o s e t o t h o s e of T a b l e 1
a n d rho w i t h t h e a c t u a l n u m b e r s o f s y ll a b l e s
c o n t i n u e s t o b e 1 . 0 .
W e a l so m a d e a n a n a l y s i s i n w h i c h e a c h S
c o u n t s b u t o n c e . T h i s w a s d o n e b y c a l c u l a t -
i n g th e m e a n o f a n S s g u e s s e s f o r a l l w o r d s
3 We ~4sh to than k Professor Freder ick Moste l -
le r for d iscussing the f ragmentary da ta problem
with us.
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TIP OF THE TONGUE PHENOMENON 329
TABLE 1
ACTUAL NUMBERS OF SYLLABLES AND GUESSED
NUMBERS FOR LL TO Ts n r aE MA~N EXPERn~E~rr
Guessed numbers No
1 2 3 4 5 guess Mode Mean
1 9 7 1 0 0 0 1 1.53
~ 2 2 55 22 2 1 5 2 2.33
= 3 3 19 61 10 1 5 3 2.86
d 4 0 2 12 6 2 3 3 3.36
5 0 0 3 0 1 1 3 3.50
of one s y l l ab l e , t he m ean fo r a l l words o f
t w o s y l l a b l e s , e t c . I n c o m p a r i n g t h e m e a n s
o f gues s es fo r word s o f d i f f e ren t l eng t h one
c a n o n l y u s e t h o s e S s w h o m a d e a t l e a s t
o n e g u e s s f o r e a c h a c t u a l l e n g t h t o b e
c o m p a r e d . I n t h e p r e s e n t d a t a o n l y w o r d s
o f t wo s y l l ab l es and t h ree s y l l ab l es p re -
c i p i t a t e d e n o u g h T O T s t o y i e l d a s u b -
s t a n t ia l n u m b e r o f s u c h m a t c h e d s c o r es .
T h e r e w e r e 2 1 S s w h o m a d e g u e s s e s f o r b o t h
t wo-s y l l ab l e and t h ree - s y l l ab l e words . The
s i m p l es t way t o eva l ua t e t he s i gn i f i cance o f
t he d i f f e rences i n t hes e gues s es i s w i t h t he
S i g n T e s t . I n o n l y 6 o f 2 1 m a t c h e d s c o r e s
was t he m ean gues s fo r words o f t wo s y l -
l a b l e s l a r g e r t h a n t h e m e a n f o r w o r d s o f
t h ree s y l l ab les . Th e d i f f e rence i s s i gn i f ican t
wi t h a p ~ - - - .039 (one - t a i l ed ) . F o r ac t ua l
w o r d s t h a t w e r e o n l y o n e s y l l a b l e a p a r t i n
l eng t h , S s were ab l e t o m ake a s i gn i f i can t
d i s t i n c t i o n i n t h e c o r r e c t d i r e c t i o n w h e n t h e
words t hem s e l ves cou l d no t be ca l l ed t o m i nd .
T h e 2 2 4 S S w o r d s a n d t h e 9 5 S M w o r d s
p r o v i d e s u p p o r t i n g e v i d e n c e . W o r d s o f s i m -
i l a r s o u n d ( S S ) h a d t h e s a m e n u m b e r o f
s y l l ab l es a s t he t a rge t i n 48% o f a l l cas es .
T h i s v a l u e i s c l o s e t o t h e 5 7 % t h a t w e r e
co r rec t fo r exp l i c i t gues s es i n t he m a i n ex -
p e r i m e n t a n d s t i l l c l o s e r t o t h e 4 7 ~ c o r r e c t
a l r e a d y r e p o r t e d f o r t h e p r e t e s t . T h e S M
w o r d s p r o v i d e a c l e a r c o n t r a s t ; o n l y 2 0 %
m a t c h e d t h e n u m b e r o f s y l l a b l e s i n t h e t a r -
~ g e t . W e c o n c l u d e t h a t S i n a p o s i t i v e T O T
s t a t e has a s i gn i f i can t ab i l i t y t o r eca l l co r -
r e c t l y t h e n u m b e r o f s y l l a b l e s i n t h e w o r d
he i s t ry i ng t o r e t r i eve .
I n T a b l e 1 i t c a n b e s e e n t h a t t h e m o d e s
o f g u e s s e s e x a c t l y c o r r e s p o n d w i t h t h e a c -
t u a l n u m b e r s o f s y l l a b l e s i n t a r g e t w o r d s f o r
t he va l ues one t h rough t h ree . F o r s t i l l l onger
t a r g e t w o r d s ( f o u r a n d f iv e s y l la b l e s ) t h e
m e a n s o f g u e s s e s c o n t i n u e t o r i s e b u t t h e
m o d e s s t a y a t t h e v a l u e t h r e e . W o r d s o f
m o r e t h a n t h r e e s y l l a b l e s a r e r a r e i n E n -
g l i s h a n d t h e g e n e r i c e n t r y f o r s u c h w o r d s
m a y b e t h e s a m e a s f o r w o r d s o f t h r e e
s y l la b l e s; s o m e t h i n g li k e t h r e e o r m o r e
m a y b e u s e d f o r a l l l o n g w o r d s .
n i t i a l L e t t e r
Over a l l pos i t i ve TOTs , t he i n i t i a l l e t t e r
o f t h e w o r d S w a s s e e k i n g w a s c o r r e c t l y
g u e s s e d 5 7 % o f t h e t i m e . T h e p r e t e s t r e -
s u l t w a s 5 1 % c o r r e c t . T h e r e s u l ts f r o m t h e
m a i n e x p e r i m e n t w e r e a n a l y z e d w i t h e a c h
w o r d c o u n t i n g j u s t o n c e b y e n t e r i n g a w o r d ' s
s c o re a s c o r r e c t w h e n e v e r t h e m o s t c o m -
m o n g u e s s o r t h e o n l y g u e s s w a s i n f a c t
c o r r e c t ; 6 2 % o f w o r d s w e r e , b y t h is r e c k o n -
i n g, c o r r e c t l y g u e s se d . T h e S S w o r d s h a d
i n i t i a l l e t t e r s m a t ch i ng t he i n i t i a l l e t t e r s o f
t h e t a r g e t w o r d s i n 4 9 % o f a ll c a se s . W e d o
no t know t he chance l eve l o f s ucces s fo r t h i s
p e r f o r m a n c e b u t w i th 2 6 le t te r s a n d m a n y
w o r d s t h a t b e g a n w i t h u n c o m m o n l e t t e r s
t h e l e v e l m u s t b e l o w . P r o b a b l y t h e r e s u l t s
f o r t h e S M w o r d s a r e b e t t e r t h a n c h a n c e
a n d y e t t h e o u t c o m e f o r t h e s e w o r d s w a s
o n l y 8 % m a t c h e s.
W e d i d a n a n a l y s i s o f t h e S S a n d S M
w o r d s , w i t h e a c h S c o u n t i n g j u s t o n c e . T h e r e
w e r e 2 6 S s w h o h a d a t l e a s t o n e s u c h w o r d .
F o r e a c h S w e c a l c u l a t e d t h e p r o p o r t i o n o f
S S words m a t ch i ng t he t a rge t i n i n i t i a l l e t t e r
a n d t h e s a m e p r o p o r t i o n f o r S M w o r d s . F o r
2 1 S s t h e p r o p o r t i o n s w e r e n o t t i e d a n d i n
a l l bu t 3 cas es t he l a rge r va l ue was t ha t o f
t he S S words . Th e d i f f e rence i s s ign i f i can t
by S i gn T es t w i t h p ~ --- . 001 (one - t a i l ed ) .
T h e e v i d e n c e f o r s i g n i f i c a n t ly a c c u r a t e
gener i c r eca l l o f i n i t a l l e t t e r s i s even s t ronger
t han fo r s y l l ab l es . The abs o l u t e l eve l s o f s uc -
ces s a r e s i m i l a r bu t t he chance bas e l i ne
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330 BROWN AND MC NEIL L
must be much lower for le t ters than for syl -
lables because the possibil i t ies are more
num e r ous .
Syllabic Stress
We did not ask S to guess the s t ress pat -
tern of the target word but the SS words
provide relevant data . The tes t was l imi ted
to the syl labic locat ion of the pr imary or
heaviest s tress for which The American Col
lege Dictionary was our au thor i ty . The num-
ber of SS words that could be used was
l imi ted by three cons iderat ions . a) W ords
of one syl lable had to be excluded because
there was no poss ibi li ty of var iat ion. b)
Stress locat ions could only be matched i f
the SS word had the same number of syl -
lables as the target, and so only such match-
ing words could be used. c) Inven ted words
and foreign words could not be used because
they do not appear in the dict ionary. Only
49 SS words remained.
As i t happened al l of the target words in-
volved whate ver thei r length) placed the
primary stress on either the f irst or the sec-
ond syllable. I t was possible, therefore, to
ma ke a 2 X 2 table fo r the 49 pairs of tar-
get and SS words which would reveal the
correspondences and noncorrespondences . As
can be seen in Table 2 the SS words tended
to stress the same syllable as the target
words. The X for this table is 10.96 and that
value is s ignificant with p < .001. Ho wev er,
the data do not meet the independence re-
quirement , so we cannot be sure that the
matching tendency is s ignif icant . There
were no t enough da ta to permi t any o ther
analyses , and so we are lef t suspect ing that S
TABLE 2
SYLLABLES RECEIVING PRIIVfARY STRESS
IN
TARGET
WORDS AND WORDS
Target words
1st syllable 2nd syllable
1st syllab le 25
6
u~ 2nd syl labl e 6 12
in a TOT s tate has knowledge of the s t ress
pat tern of the target , but we are not sure
of i t .
Letters in Various Positions
We did not require explicit guesses for let-
ters in pos i t ions other than the f i r s t , but the
SS words provide relevant data . The tes t
was l imited to the following posit ions: f irs t ,
second, third, third-last , second-last , and last .
A target word must have at leas t s ix le t ters
in order to provide data on the s ix pos i t ions ;
i t might have any number of le t ters larger
than s ix and s t i l l provide data for the s ix
relat ively def ined) pos i t ions . Accordingly
we included the data for a l l target words
having s ix or more le t ters .
Figure 1 displays the percentages of le t -
ters in each of s ix posit ions of SS words
which matched the le t ters in the same pos i -
t ions of the corresponding targets . For com-
par ison purposes these data are also provided
for SM words. The SS curve is at all points
above the SM curve; the two are closes t
together a t the thi rd- las t pos i t ion. The values
for the last three posit ions of the SS curve
qui te c losely match the values for the f i r s t
three pos i t ions . The values for the las t three
pos i t ions of the SM curve, on the other hand,
are well above the values for the f irst three
0.55 -- o==- o Words s /m//or in sound {SS)
o- -- o Words s imilar in meon/no( Ml l
0.50 -
I
0.45
0 . 4 0
0 . 3 5 --
u_
o 0.3 0 --
~o 2s
0 20
- . , , , , / -
~o ~5
I
n- I --
u.J 0.I0 - -- --- o,, I
n
0 . 0 5
~,,~I
o oo I I T I I I
1st 2 nd 3 rd 3 rd 2 nd Last
Las t Las t
P O S I T I O N I N W O R D
FIG. 1. Percentages of letter match es be tween
target words and SS words for six serial positions.
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TIP OF THE TONGUE PHENOMENON 331
posit ions. Consequently the
relative
superior-
i ty of the SS curve is greater in the first
three posi t ions.
The le t te r-posi t ion da ta were a l so analyzed
in such a way as to count each ta rge t word
just once, assigning each posit ion in the tar-
get a single score representing the proport ion
of matches across a l l Ss for tha t posi t ion in
tha t word . The order of the SS and SM
points is preserved in this finer analysis. We
did Sign Tests comparing the SS and SM
values for each of the six posi t ions. As Fig. 1
would suggest the SS values for the first three
posit ions al l exceeded the SM values with
p's less than .01 ( one-t ai led). Th e SS values
for the final two posit ions exceeded the SM
values with p 's less than .05 (one-tai led).
The SS values for the third-last posi t ion were
grea ter than the SM values bu t no t s ign i f i -
can t ly so .
The cause of the upswing in the final
three posi t ions of the SM curve may be
some difference in the distribution of in-
format ion in ear ly and la te posi t ions of En-
g l i sh words . Probably there i s less var ie ty
in the la ter posi t ions . In any case the fac t
tha t the SS curve l ies above the SM curve
for the last three posi t ions indicates that S
in a TOT sta te has knowledge of the ta rge t
in addit ion to his knowledge of English word
st ruc ture .
Chunking of Su~xes
The request to S that he guess the ini t ial
let ter of the target occasionally el ici ted a
response of more than one le t te r ; e .g . ,
ex
in the case of extort and con in the case of
convene. This resu l t suggested tha t some
le t te r (or phoneme) sequences are s tored as
s ing le en t r ies having been chun ked by long
experience . We made only one tes t for chunk-
ing and that involved three-let ter suffixes.
I t d id no t o f ten happen tha t an S produced
an SS word tha t matched the ta rge t wi th
respect to al l of i ts three last let ters. The
quest ion asked of the da ta was whether
such three- le t te r matches occurred more of ten
when the let ters consti tuted an English suffix
than when they d id no t . In order to de ter-
mine which of the ta rge t words te rminated
in such a suffix, we entered The American
College Dictionary
with f ina l t r ig rams. I f
there was an e ntry describing a suffix ap-
propria te to the grammat ica l and semant ic
propert ies of the ta rge t we considered the
trigram to be a suffix. There were 20 words
that terminated in a suffix, including fawn-
ing unctuous an d philatelist.
Of 93 SS words produced in response to
a target terminating in a suffix, 30 matched
the target in their final three let ters. Of 130
SS words supplied in response to a target
that did not terminate in a suffix only 5
matched the target in their final three let-
te rs . The da ta were a l so analyzed in a way
that counts each S jus t once and uses on ly Ss
who produced SS words in response to bo th
kinds of ta rge t . A Sign Test was made of the
difference between matches of svffixes and
matches of endings that were not suffixes;
the former were more com mon wi th p = .059
(one-ta i led) . A comparable Sign Test for
SM words was very far f rom s igni f icance .
We conclude tha t suff ix-chunking probably
plays a role in generic recall .
Proximity to the Target and Quality of In-
formation
There were th ree varie t ies of posi t ive TOT
states: (1) C ases in which S recognized the
word read by E as the word he had been
seeking; (2) Cases in which S recalled the
in tended word before i t was read out ; (3 )
Cases in which S recalled the word he had
been seeking before E read the in tended
word and the reca l led word was not the same
as the word read . Since S in a TOT sta te of
e i ther type 2 or type 3 reached the ta rge t
before the in tended word was read and S in
a TOT sta te of type 1 d id no t , the TOTs of
the second and th i rd types may be consid-
e red n ea re r t h e t a rg e t t h an TO Ts o f t h e
f i rs t type . We have no basis for o rdering
types 2 and 3 re la t ive to one another . We
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332 B R O W N N D M C N E I L L
p r e d i c t e d t h a t S s i n t h e t w o k i n d s o f T O T
s t a t e t h a t e n d e d i n r e c a l l ( t y p e s 2 a n d 3 )
w o u l d p r o d u c e m o r e a c c u r a t e i n f o r m a t i o n
a b o u t t h e t a r g e t t h a n S s i n t h e T O T s t a t e
t h a t e n d e d i n r e c o g n i t i o n ( t y p e 1 ) .
T h e p r e d i c t i o n w a s t e s t e d o n t h e e x p l i c i t
guesses o f in i t i a l l e t t e r s s ince these were the
m o s t c o m p l e t e a n d s e n s it iv e d a t a . T h e r e
w e r e 1 3 8 g u e s s e s f r o m Ss in a t y p e 1 s t a t e
a n d 5 8 o f t h e s e , o r 4 2 ~ , w e r e c o r r e c t . T h e r e
w e r e 3 6 g u e s s e s f r o m Ss i n a t y p e 2 s t a t e
a n d , o f t h e s e , 2 0 , o r 5 6 % , w e r e c o r r e c t .
T h e r e w e r e 5 9 g u e s s e s f r o m Ss i n a t y p e 3
s t a t e a n d o f t h e s e 3 9 , o r 6 6 % , w e r e c o r r e c t .
W e a l s o a n a l y z e d t h e r e s u l t s i n s u c h a w a y
a s t o c o u n t e a c h w o r d o n l y o n c e . T h e p e r -
c e n t a ge s c o r r e c t w e r e : f o r t y p e i , 5 0 % ;
t y p e 2 , 6 2 % ; t y p e 3 , 6 3 % . F i n a l l y , w e p e r -
f o r me d a n a n a l y s i s c o u n t i n g e a c h S j u s t o n c e
b u t a v e r a g i n g t o g e t h e r t y p e 2 a n d t y p e 3
r e s u lt s i n o r d e r to b r in g a m a x i m u m n u m b e r
o f S s i n t o t h e c o mp a r i s o n . T h e c o mb i n i n g
a c t i o n i s j u s t i f i e d s i n c e b o t h t y p e 2 a n d t y p e
3 w e r e s t a t e s e n d i n g i n r e c a l l . A S i g n T e s t
o f t h e d i f f e r e n c e s s h o w e d t h a t g u e s s e s w e r e
m o r e a c c u r a t e i n t h e s t a t e s t h a t e n d e d i n
r e c a l l t h a n i n t h e s t a t e s t h a t e n d e d i n r e c o g -
n i t i o n ; o n e - t a i l e d p < .0 1. Su p p l e m e n t a r y
a n a l y s e s w i t h SS a n d SM w o r d s c o n f i r me d
t h e s e r e s u l t s . W e c o n c l u d e t h a t w h e n S i s
n e a r e r h i s t a r g e t h i s g e n e r i c r e c a l l i s mo r e
a c c u r a t e t h a n w h e n h e is f a r t h e r f r o m t h e
t a r g e t .
Sp e c i a l i n t e r e s t a t t a c h e s t o t h e r e s u l t s f r o m
t y p e 2 T O T s . I n t h e m e t h o d o f o u r e x p e ri -
m e n t t h e r e i s n o t h i n g t o g u a r a n t e e t h a t w h e n
S s a i d h e r e c o g n i z e d a w o r d h e h a d r e a l l y
d o n e s o . Pe r h a p s w h e n E r e a d o u t a w o r d , S
c o u l d n o t h e l p t h i n k i n g t h a t t h a t w a s t h e
w o r d h e h a d i n m i n d . W e o u r s e l v es d o n o t
b e l i e v e a n y t h i n g o f t h e s o r t h a p p e n e d . T h e
s i n g l e f a c t t h a t mo s t S s c l a i me d f e w e r t h a n
f i ve p o s i t i v e T O T s i n a 2 - h r p e r i o d a r g u e s
aga ins t any such e f fec t . S t i l l i t i s reassu r ing
t o h a v e t h e 3 6 t y p e 2 c a s e s i n w h i c h S r e -
c a l l e d t h e i n t e n d e d w o r d be]ore i t w a s r e a d .
T h e f a c t t h a t 5 6 % o f t h e g u e s s e s o f i n i t i a l
l e t t e r s ma d e i n t y p e 2 s t a t e s w e r e c o r r e c t i s
h a r d - c o r e e v i d e n c e o f g e n e r i c r e c a l l . I t ma y
b e w o r t h a d d i n g t h a t 6 5 % o f t h e g u e s s e s
o f t h e n u mb e r o f s y l l a b l e s f o r t y p e 2 c a s e s
w e r e c o r r e c t .
udgments o] the Proximity of SS Words
T h e s e v e r a l c o m p a r i s o n s w e h a v e m a d e o f
S S a n d S M w o r d s d e m o n s t r a t e t h a t w h e n
r e c a l l i s i mmi n e n t S c a n d i s t i n g u i s h a mo n g
t h e w o r d s t h a t c o m e t o m i n d t h o s e t h a t r e -
s e m b l e t h e t a r g e t i n f o r m f r o m t h o s e t h a t
d o n o t r e s e m b l e t h e t a r g e t i n f o r m . T h e r e
i s a s e c o n d k i n d o f e v i d e n c e w h i c h s h o w s
t h a t S c a n t e l l w h e n h e i s g e t t i n g c l o s e ( o r
w a r m ) .
I n 1 5 i n s t a n c e s Ss r a t e d t w o o r mo r e SS
w o r d s f o r c o m p a r a t i v e s i m i l a r i t y t o t h e t a r -
g e t . O u r a n a l y s i s c o n t r a s t s t h o s e r a t e d m o s t
s i m i l a r ( 1 ) w i t h t h o se r a t e d n e x t m o s t
s i mi l a r ( 2 ) . S i n c e t h e r e w e r e v e r y f e w w o r d s
r a t e d ( 3 ) w e a t t e m p t e d n o a n a l y s i s o f t h e m .
S i mi l a r i t y p o i n t s w e r e g i v e n f o r a l l t h e f e a -
t u r e s o f a w o r d t h a t h a v e n o w b e e n d e m o n -
s t r a t e d t o p l a y a p a r t i n g e n e r i c r e c a l l - - w i t h
the s ing le excep t ion o f s t res s . S t res s had to
b e d i s r e g a r d e d b e c a u s e s o m e o f t h e w o r d s
w e r e i n v e n t e d a n d t h e i r s t r e s s p a t t e r n s w e r e
u n k n o w n .
T h e p r o b l e m w a s t o c o m p a r e p a i r s o f S S
w o r d s , r a t e d 1 a n d 2 , f o r o v e r a l l s i m i l a r i t y
t o t h e t a r g e t . W e d e t e r m i n e d w h e t h e r e a c h
m e m b e r m a t c h e d t h e t a r g e t i n n u m b e r o f
s y l l a b l e s . I f o n e d i d a n d t h e o t h e r d i d n o t ,
t h e n a s i n g l e s i m i l a r i t y p o i n t w a s a s s i g n e d
t h e w o r d t h a t m a t c h e d . F o r e a c h w o r d , w e
c o u n t e d , b e g i n n i n g w i t h t h e i n i t i a l l e t t e r ,
t h e n u m b e r o f c o n s e c u t iv e l e t te r s i n c o m m o n
w i t h t h e t a r g e t . T h e w o r d h a v i n g t h e l o n g e r
s e q u en c e t h a t m a t c h e d t h e t a r g e t e a r n e d o n e
s i m i l a r i t y p o i n t . A n e x a c t l y c o m p a r a b l e p r o -
c e d u r e w a s f o l l o w e d f o r s e q u e n c e s s t a r t i n g
f r o m t h e f i n a l l e t t e r . I n s u m, e a c h w o r d i n
a p a i r c o u l d r e c e i v e f r o m z e r o t o t h r e e s i m-
i l a r i t y p o i n t s .
W e m a d e S i g n T e s t s c o m p a r i n g t h e t o t a l
s c o r e s f o r w o r d s r a t e d mo s t l i k e t h e t a r g e t
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9/13
TIP OF THE
TONGUE
PHENOMENON 333
(1 ) a nd words r a t e d ne x t mos t l i ke t he t a r -
ge t (2 ) . Th i s t e s t wa s on l y s l igh t l y i na pp ro -
p r i a t e s i nc e on l y t wo t a rge t words oc c u r re d
twice in the se t of 15 and only one S re -
pea ted in the se t . Ten of 12 d i f fe rences were
i n t he p re d i c t e d d i r e c t i on a nd t he one - t a i le d
p = .019. I t i s of some in te res t tha t s im-
i l a r i t y po i n t s a wa r de d on t he ba s i s o f le t t e rs
i n t he mi dd l e o f t he words d i d no t e ve n go
i n t he r i gh t d i r e c ti on . F i gu re 1 ha s a l r e a dy
i nd i c a t e d t ha t t he y a l so do no t f i gu re i n S s '
j udgme n t s o f t he c ompa ra t i ve s i mi l a r i t y t o
t he t a rge t o f pa i r s o f S S words . Our c onc l u -
s ion i s tha t S a t a g iven d is tance f rom the
t a rge t c a n a c c u ra t e l y j udge wh i c h o f t wo
words t ha t c ome t o mi nd i s more l i ke t he
t a rge t a nd t ha t he doe s so i n t e rms o f t he
fe a t u re s o f words t h a t a pp e a r i n ge ner i c
recall.
Conc lus ions
W h e n c ompl e t e r e ca l l o f a word ha s no t
oc c u r re d bu t i s f e lt t o be i mmi n e n t t he re i s
l ike ly to be accura te gener ic reca l l . Gener ic
reca l l of the abstrac t ]orm var ie ty i s evi -
d e n c e d b y S ' s k n o w l e d g e o f t h e n u m b e r o f
sy l l a b l e s i n t he t a rge t a nd o f t he l oc a t i on
of the pr imary s t ress . Gener ic reca l l of the
partial va r i e t y i s e v i de nc e d by S ' s knowl e dge
o f le t t er s i n t he t a rge t word . Th i s knowl e dge
shows a bowed se r ia l -pos i t ion e ffec t s ince
i t i s be t t e r fo r t he e nds o f a word t ha n fo r
t he mi dd l e a nd some wha t be t t e r fo r be g i n -
ning pos i t ions than for f ina l pos i t ions . The
accuracy of gener ic reca l l i s grea te r when S
is nea r the ta rge t (comple te reca l l i s im-
mi ne n t ) t ha n w he n S is fa r f rom t he t a rge t .
A pe rson exper ienc ing gener ic reca l l i s ab le
to judge the re la t ive s imi la r i ty to the ta rge t
o f words t ha t oc c u r t o h i m a nd t he se j udg -
me n t s a re ba se d on t he f e a t u re s o f words
t ha t f i gu re i n pa r t i a l a nd a bs t r a c t fo rm re -
call.
DISCUSSION
Th e fac t s of gener ic reca l l a re re levant to
theor ies of speech pe rcept ion , read ing, the
unde r s t a n d i ng o f s en t e nc e s , a nd t he o rga n i z a -
t i on o f me m ory . W e ha v e no t worke d ou t a l I
the impl ica t ions . In th i s sec t ion we f i rs t a t -
t e mp t a mode l o f t he TOT p roc e s s a nd t he n
t ry to account for the exis tence of gener ic
m e m o r y .
A Mode l o f the Process
Le t u s suppose (w i t h Ka t z a nd F odor ,
1963, a nd m a ny o t he r s ) t ha t ou r l ong - t e rm
me mory fo r words a nd de f i n i t i ons i s o rga n -
ized in to the func t iona l equiva lent of a d ic -
t ionary . In rea l d ic t ionar ies , those tha t a re
books , e n t r i e s a re o rde re d a l pha be t i c a l l y
a nd bound i n p l a c e . S uc h a n a r ra nge me n t i s
too s imple and too inf lexib le to se rve as a
mode l fo r a me n t a l d i c t i ona ry . W e wi l l sup -
pose t ha t words a re e n t e re d on ke yso r t c a rds
i n s t e a d o f pa ge s a nd t ha t t he c a rds a re
punc h e d fo r va r i ous f e a t u re s o f . he words
ente red . Wi th rea l ca rds , paper ones , i t i s
pos s i b l e t o r e t r i e ve f rom t he t o t a l de c k a ny
s u b s e t p u n c h e d f o r a c o m m o n f e a t u r e b y
pu t t i ng a me t a l rod t h rough t he p rope r ho l e .
W e wi l l suppose t ha t t he re i s i n t he mi nd
some speedie r equiva lent of th i s re t r ieva l
technique .
The model will be described in terms of a single
example. When the target word was sextant Ss
heard the definition: A navigational instrument
used in measuring angular dista nces, espe cially the
altitude of sun, moon, and stars at sea. This deft-
nifion precipitated a TOT state in 9 Ss of the total
56. The SM words included: astrolabe compass
dividers and protractor. The SS words included:
secant sextet and sexton.
The problem begin s with a definition rather than
a word and so S must enter his dictionary back-
wards, or in a way that would be backwards and
quite impossible for the dictionary that is a book.
It is not impossible with keysort cards, providing
we suppose that the cards are punched for some
set of semantic features. Perhaps the se are the
semantic markers that Katz and Fod or (1963)
postulate in their account of the comprehensioh of
sentences. We will imagine that it is somehow pos-
sible to extract from the definition a set of markers
and tha t thes e are, in the present case: navigation,
instrument, having to do with geometry. Metal
rods thrust into the holes for each of these features
mig ht fish up such a collection of entries as: astro-
labe compass dividers and protractor. This first
8/11/2019 Brown Mcneill 1966
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4 B R O W N A N D M C N E I L L
~ e t r ie v a l , w h i c h i s i n r e s p o n s e t o t h e d e f i n i t io n ,
m u s t b e s e m a n t i c a l l y b a s e d a n d i t w i ll n o t , t h e r e fo r e ,
a c c o u n t / o r t h e a p p e a r a n c e o f s u c h S S w o r d s a s
sextet
a n d
sexton.
T h e r e a r e f o u r m a j o r k i n d s o f o u t c o m e o f t h e
f i r s t r e t r i e v a l a n d t h e s e o u t c o m e s c o r r e s p o n d w i t h
t h e f o u r m a i n t h i n g s t h a t h a p p e n t o S s i n t h e T OT
e x p e r i m e n t . W e w i l l a s s u m e t h a t a d e f i n it i o n o f e a c h
w o r d r e t r ie v e d i s e n te r e d o n i t s c a rd a n d t h a t i t i s
p o s s i b l e t o c h e c k t h e i n p u t d e f i n i t i o n a g a i n s t t h o s e
o n t h e c a r d s . T h e f i r s t p o s s i b le o u t c o m e i s t h a t
sextant i s r e t r i e v e d a l o n g w i t h compass a n d astro-
labe a n d t h e o t h e r s a n d t h a t t h e d e f i n it i o n s a r e
s p e c i f i c e n o u g h s o t h a t t h e o n e e n t e r e d f o r
sextant
r e g i st e r s a s m a t c h i n g t h e i n p u t a n d a l l th e o t h e r s
a s n o t - m a t c h i n g . T h i s i s t h e c a s e o f c o r r e c t r e c a l l ;
S h a s f o u n d a w o r d t h a t m a t c h e s t h e d e f in i t io n a n d
i t i s t h e i n t e n d e d w o r d . T h e s e c o n d p o s s i b i l i t y i s
t h a t sextant i s n o t a m o n g t h e w o r d s r e t r i e v e d a n d ,
i n a d d i t i o n , t h e d e f i n i t i o n s e n t e r e d f o r t h o s e r e -
t r i e v e d a r e s o i m p r e c i s e t h a t o n e o f t h e m ( t h e
d e f i n i t i o n f o r
compass,
f o r e x a m p l e ) r e g i s t e r s a s
m a t c h i n g t h e i n p u t . I n t h i s ca s e S t h i n k s h e h a s
f o u n d t h e t a r g e t t h o u g h h e r e al ly h a s n o t . T h e
t h i r d p o s s i b i l i t y i s t h a t
sextant
i s n o t a m o n g t h e
w o r d s r e t r ie v e d , b u t t h e d e f i n i t i o n s e n t e r e d f o r t h o s e
r e t r ie v e d a r e s p ec if ic e n o u g h s o t h a t n o n e o f t h e m
w i l l r e ~ s t e r a m a t c h w i t h t h e i n p u t . I n t h i s c a se , S
d o e s n o t k n o w t h e w o r d a n d r e a l iz e s t h e f a c t. T h e
a b o v e t h r e e o u t c o m e s a r e th e c o m m o n o n e s a n d
n o n e o f t h e m r e p r e s e n t s a T O T s t a t e .
I n t h e T O T c a se t h e f ir s t r e t r ie v a l m u s t i n c l u d e a
c a r d w i t h t h e d e f i n i t i o n o f sextant e n t e r e d o n i t
b u t w i t h t h e w o r d i ts e lf i n c o m p l e t e l y e n t e r e d . T h e
c a r d m i g h t , f o r i n s ta n c e , h a v e t h e f o l l o w i n g i n -
f o r m a t i o n a b o u t t h e w o r d : t w o - s y l l a b l e s , i n i t ia l s ,
f in a l t. T h e e n t r y w o u l d b e a p u n c h c a r d e q u i v a l e n t
o f S _ _ _ _ T . P e r h a p s a n i n c o m p l et e e n t r y o f t h i s
s o r t i s J a m e s ' s s i n g u l a r l y d e f in i te g a p a n d t h e
b a s i s f o r g e n e r i c r e c a l l .
T h e S w i t h a c o r r e c t d e f i n i t i o n , m a t c h i n g t h e i n -
p u t , a n d a n i n c o m p l e t e w o r d e n t r y w i l l k n o w t h a t
h e k n o w s t h e w o r d , w i ll f e el t h a t h e a l m o s t h a s i t ,
t h a t i t is o n t h e t i p o f h i s t o n g u e . I f h e i s a s k e d
t o g u e s s t h e n u m b e r o f s y l la b l e s a n d t h e i n i t i a l
l e t t e r h e s h o u l d , i n t h e c a s e w e h a v e i m a g i n e d , b e
a b l e t o d o s o . H e s h o u l d a l so b e a b l e t o p r o d u c e S S
w o r d s . T h e f e a t u r e s t h a t a p p e a r i n t h e i n c o m p l e t e
e n t r y ( t w o - s y l l a b l e s , i n i ti a l s, a n d f i n a l t ) c a n b e
u s e d a s t h e b a s i s fo r a s e c o n d r e t r ie v a l . T h e s u b s e t
o f c a r d s d e f i n e d b y t h e i n t e r s e c t i o n o f a l l t h r e e
f e a t u r e s w o u l d i n c l u d e c a r d s f o r
secant
a n d
sextet.
I f o n e f e a t u r e w e r e n o t u s e d t h e n
sexton
w o u l d b e
a d d e d t o t h e s e t .
W h i c h o f t h e fa c t s a b o u t t h e T O T s t a t e c a n n o w
b e a c c o u n t e d f o r ? W e k n o w t h a t S s w e r e a b le , w h e n
t h e y h a d n o t r e c a l l e d a t a r g e t , t o d i s t i n g u i s h b e -
t w e e n w o r d s r e s e m b l i n g t h e t a r g e t in s o u n d ( S S
w o r d s ) a n d w o r d s r e s e m b l i n g t h e t a r g e t i n m e a n i n g
o n l y ( S M w o r d s ) . T h e b a s i s f o r t h i s d i s t i n c t i o n i n
t h e m o d e l w o u l d s e e m t o b e t h e d i s t i n c t i o n b e t w e e n
t h e f ir s t a n d s e c o n d r e t r ie v a l s. M e m b e r s h i p i n t h e
f ir s t s u b s e t r e t ri e v e d d e f i n e s S M w o r d s a n d m e m -
b e r s h i p i n t h e s e c o n d s u b s e t d e f i n e s S S w o r d s .
W e k n o w t h a t w h e n S h a d p r o d u c e d s e v e r a l S S
w o r d s b u t h a d n o t r e c a l l e d t h e t a r g e t h e c o u l d
s o m e t i m e s a c c u r a t e ly r a n k - o r d e r t h e S S w o r d s f o r
s i m i l a r i t y t o t h e t a r g e t . T h e m o d e l o f f e r s a n a c c o u n t
o f t h is r a n k i n g p e r f o r m a n c e . I f t h e i n c o m p l e t e e n t r y
f o r
sextant
i n c l u d e s t h r e e f e a t u r e s o f t h e w o r d t h e n
S S w o r d s h a v i n g o n l y o n e o r t w o o f th e s e fe a t u r e s
(e.g. ,
sexton)
s h o u l d b e j u d g e d l e ss s i m i l a r t o t h e
t a r g e t t h a n S S w o r d s h a v i n g a ll th r e e o f t h e m
(e.g. , secant).
W h e n a n S S w o r d h a s a l l o f t h e f e a t u r e s o f t h e
i n c o m p l e t e e n t r y ( a s do
secant
a n d
sextet
i n o u r
e x a m p l e ) w h a t p r e v e n t s i ts b e i n g m i s t a k e n f o r t h e
t a r g e t ? W h y d i d n o t t h e S w h o p r o d u c e d
sextet
t h i n k t h a t t h e w o r d w a s r i g h t ? B e c a u s e o f t h e
d e f in i t io n s . T h e f o r m s m e e t a l l th e r e q u i r e m e n t s o f
t h e i n c o m p l e t e e n t r y b u t t h e d e f i n i t i o n s d o n o t
m a t c h .
T h e T O T s t a t e o f t e n e n d e d i n r e c o g n i t i o n ; i . e . ,
S f a il e d to r e c al l t h e w o r d b u t w h e n E r e a d o u t
sextant S r e c o g n i z ed i t a s t h e w o r d h e h a d b e e n
s e e k in g . T h e m o d e l a c c o u n t s f o r t h i s o u t c o m e a s
f o l l o w s . S u p p o s e t h a t t h e r e i s o n l y t h e i n c o m p l e t e
e n t r y S _ _ _ _ . T i n m e m o r y , p l u s t h e d e f in i ti o n . T h e
E n o w s a y s ( i n e f fe c t ) t h a t t h e r e e x i s ts a w o r d
sextant w h i c h h a s t h e d e f i n i ti o n i n q u e s t i o n . T h e
w o r d
sextant
t h e n s a t is f i es a l l t h e d a t a p o i n t s a v a i l -
a b l e t o S ; i t h a s t h e f i g h t n u m b e r o f s y l l a b l e s , t h e
r i g h t i n i t i a l l e t t e r , t h e r i g h t f i n a l l e t t e r , a n d i t i s
s a i d t o h a v e t h e r i g h t d e f i n i t i o n . T h e r e s u l t is r e c o g -
n i t i o n .
T h e p r o p o s e d a c c o u n t h a s s o m e t e s t a b l e i m p l i c a -
t i o n s . S u p p o s e t h a t F . w e r e t o r e a d o u t , w h e n r e -
c a l l f a i l e d , n o t t h e c o r r e c t w o r d
sextant
b u t a n
i n v e n t e d w o r d l i k e
sekrant
o r
saktint
w h i c h s a t i s -
f ie s t h e i n c o m p l e t e e n t r y a s w e l l a s d o e s sextant
i ts e lf . I f S h a d n o t h i n g b u t t h e i n c o m p l e t e e n t r y a n d
E s
t e s t i m o n y t o g u i d e h i m t h e n h e s h o u l d r e c o g -
n i z e t h e i n v e n t e d w o r d s j u s t a s h e r ec o g n i z es
sextant.
T h e a c c o u n t w e h a v e g i v e n d o e s n o t a c c o r d w i t h
i n t u i t i o n . O u r i n t u i t i v e n o t i o n o f r e c o g n i t i o n i s
t h a t t h e f e a t u r e s w h i c h c o u l d n o t b e c a l l ed w e r e
a c t u a l l y i n s t o r a g e b u t l e s s a c c e s s ib l e t h a n t h e f e a -
t u r e s t h a t w e r e r e c a l l e d . T o s t a y w i t h o u r e x a m p l e ,
i n t u i t i o n s u g g e s t s t h a t t h e f e a t u r e s o f sextant t h a t
c o u l d n o t b e r e c a l l e d , t h e l e t t e r s b e t w e e n t h e f i r s t
a n d t h e l a s t , w e r e e n t e r e d o n t h e c a r d b u t w e r e
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~ T I P O F T H E T O N G UE ~ P H E N O M E N O N 3 3 5
less leg ib le than the reca l led fea tu res . W e mi gh t
im a g in e th e m p r in t e d in s m a l l l e t t e r s a n d f a in t ly .
Wh e n , h o w e v e r , t h e g r e a d s o u t t h e w o rd
sextant,
then S can make ou t the le s s leg ib le pa r ts o f h is
e n t ry a n d , s in c e th e to t a l e n t ry m a tc h e s E ' s w o rd , S
recognizes i t . Th is so r t o f recogni t ion shou ld be
t ig h te r t h a n th e o n e d e s c r ib ed p re v io u s ly . Sekrant
a n d saktint w o u ld h e r e j e c t e d .
We d id n o t t ry th e e f f ec t o f i n v e n te d w o rd s a n d
w e d o n o t k n o w h o w t h e y w o u l d h a v e b e e n r e -
c e iv e d h u t a m o n g th e o u tc o m e s o f t h e a c tu a l e x -
p e r im e n t th e re i s o n e th a t s t ro n g ly f a v o r s th e
fa in t - e n t ry th e o ry . S u b je c t s i n a T O T s t a t e , a f t e r
a l l , s o m e t im e s r e c a l l e d th e t a rg e t w o rd w i th o u t a n y
p ro m p t in g . T h e in c o m p le te e n t ry th e o ry d o e s n o t
a d m i t o f s u c h a p o s sib i li t y . I f w e s u p p os e th a t t h e
e n t ry i s n o t S _ _ _ _ _ T b u t s o m e th in g m o re l i k e
Sex tanT (w i th th e i t a l i c i ze d lo w e r -c a se l e t t e r s r e p -
re s e n t in g th e f a in t - e n t ry s e c t io n ) w e m u s t s t i l l
e x p la in h o w i t h a p p e n s th a t t h e f a in t ly e n te re d ,
and a t f i rs t inaccess ib le , midd le le t te rs a re made
accessible in the case of recall.
P e rh a p s i t w o rk s s o m e th in g l ik e th i s . T h e f e a -
tu res tha t a re f i rs t reca l led opera te a s we have
sugges ted , to re t r ieve a se t o f SS wo. rds . Whenever
a n S S w o rd ( s u c h a s secant inc ludes midd le le t te rs
th a t a re m a tc h e d in th e f a in t ly e n te re d s e c t io n o f
th e t a rg e t t h e n th o s e f a in t ly e n te re d l e t t e r s b e c o m e
access ib le . The match b r ings ou t the miss ing pa r ts
th e w a y h e a t b r in g s o u t a n y th in g w r i t t e n in l e m o n
ju ic e . In o th e r w o rd s , w h e n secant i s r e t r i e v e d th e
t a rg e t e n t ry g ro w s f ro m
Sex tanT
t o S E x r A N T .
T h e r e t r i e v a l o f sextet b r in g s o u t t h e r e m a in in g
le t te rs and S reca l ls the comple te word--sextant.
I t i s now poss ib le to exp la in the one as ye t un-
e x p la in e d o u tc o m e o f th e T O T e x p e r im e n t . S u b je c t s
w h o s e s t a t e e n d e d in r e c a l l h a d , b e fo re th e y fo u n d
th e t a rg e t , m o re c o r re c t i n fo rm a t io n a b o u t i t t h a n
d id S s w h o s e s t a t e e n d e d in r e c o g n i t io n . Mo re c o r -
r e c t i n fo rm a t io n m e a n s f e w e r f e a tu re s to b e b ro u g h t
o u t b y d u p l i c a t io n in S S w o rd s a n d s o s h o u ld m e a n
a g rea te r l ike l ihood tha t a l l e s sen t ia l fea tu res wil l
b e b ro u g h t o u t i n a s h o r t p e r io d o f t im e .
A l l o f t h e a b o v e a s s u m e s th a t e a c h w o rd i s e n -
te red in memory jus t once , on a s ing le ca rd . There
is ano the r poss ib i l i ty . Suppose tha t the re a re en tr ie s
fo r sextant o n s e v e ra l d i f f e re n t c a rd s . T h e y m ig h t
a l l b e in c o m p le te , b u t a t d i f f e re n t p o in t s , o r , s o m e
m i g h t b e i n c o m p l e t e a n d o n e o r m o r e o f t h e m c o m -
p le t e . T h e s e v e ra l c a rd s w o u ld b e p u n c h e d fo r
d i f f e re n t s e m a n t i c m a rk e r s a n d p e rh a p s fo r d i f f e re n t
a s s o c ia t io n s s o th a t t h e e n t ry r e c o v e re d w o u ld
v a ry w i th th e ru l e o f r e t r i e v a l . Wi th th i s c o n c e p -
t io n w e d o n o t r e q u i re th e n o t io n o f f a in t e n t ry .
T h e d i f f e re n c e b e tw e e n f e a tu re s c o m m o n ly r e c a l l e d ,
such as the f i rs t and la s t le t te rs , and fea tu res tha t
a re r e c a l l e d w i th d i f f i c u l ty o r p e rh a p s o n ly r e c o g -
n iz e d , c a n b e r e n d e re d in a n o th e r w a y . T h e m o re
access ib le fea tu res a re en te red on more ca rds o r
e l s e th e c a rd s o n w h ic h th e y a p p e a r a re p u n c h e d
fo r m o re m a rk e r s ; i n e f f e c t , t h e y a re w i re d in to
a more ex tended assoc ia t ive ne t .
The Reason ]or Generic Recall
I n a d u l t m i n d s w o r d s a r e s t o r e d i n b o t h
v i s u a l a n d a u d i t o r y t e r m s a n d b e t w e e n t h e
t w o t h e r e a r e c o m p l i c a t e d r u l e s of t r a n s la -
t i o n . G e n e r i c r e c a l l i n v o l v e s l e t t e r s ( o r p h o -
n e m e s ) , a f fi x es , s y l l a b l e s , a n d s t r e s s l o c a t i o n .
I n t h i s s e c t io n w e w i l l d i sc u s s o n l y l e t t e r s
( l e g ib l e f o r m s ) a n d w i l l a t t e m p t t o ex p l a i n
a si n g l e e f f e c t - - t h e s e r i a l p o s i t i o n e f f e c t i n
t h e r e c a l l o f l e t t e r s. I t i s n o t c l e a r h o w f a r
t h e e x p l a n a t i o n c a n b e e x t e n d e d .
I n b r i e f o v e r v i e w t h i s is t h e a r g u m e n t .
T h e d e s i g n o f th e E n g l i s h l a n g u a g e i s s u c h
t h a t o n e w o r d i s u s u a l l y d i s t i n g u i s h e d f r o m
a l l o t h e r s i n a m o r e - t h a n - m i n i m a l w a y , i .e .,
b y m o r e t h a n a s in g l e l e t t e r i n a s i n g le p o s i -
t i o n . I t i s c o n s e q u e n t l y possible t o r e c o g n i z e
w o r d s w h e n o n e h as n o t s t o r e d t h e c o m p l e t e
l e t t e r se q u e n c e . T h e e v i d e n c e is t h a t w e d o
n o t s t o r e t h e c o m p l e t e s e q u e n c e i f w e d o n o t
h a v e t o . W e b e g i n b y a t t e n d i n g c h i e f ly to
i n i t i a l a n d f i n a l l e t t e r s a n d s t o r i n g t h e s e .
T h e o r d e r o f a t t e n t i o n a n d o f s t o r a g e f a v o r s
t h e e n d s o f w o r d s b e c a u s e t h e e n d s c a r r y
m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n t h a n t h e m i d d l es . A n i n -
c o m p l e t e e n t r y w i l l s e r v e f o r r e c o g n i t i o n , b u t
i f w o r d s a r e t o b e p r o d u c e d ( o r r e c a l le d )
t h e y m u s t b e s t o r e d i n f u l l . F o r m o s t w o r d s ,
t h e n , i t i s e v e n t u a l l y n e c e s s a r y t o a t t e n d t o
t h e m i d d l e l e t t e r s . S i n c e e n d l e t t e r s h a v e
b e e n a t t e n d e d t o f r o m t h e f i rs t t h e y s h o u l d
a l w a y s b e m o r e c l e a r l y e n t e r e d o r m o r e
e l a b o r a t e l y c o n n e c t e d t h a n m i d d l e l e t te r s .
W h e n r e c al l i s r e q u i r e d , o f w o r d s t h a t a r e
n o t v e r y f a m i l i a r t o S , a s i t w a s i n o u r e x -
p e r i m e n t , t h e e n d l e t t e rs s h o u l d o f t e n b e
a c c e s s i b l e w h e n t h e m i d d l e a r e n o t .
I n b u i l d i n g p r o n o u n c e a b l e s e q u e n c e s t h e
E n g l i s h l a n g u a g e , l i k e al l o t h e r l a n g u a g e s ,
u t i l i z e s o n l y a s m a l l f r a c t i o n o f i t s c o m -
b i n a t o r i a l p o s s i b il i t ie s ( H o c k e t t , 1 9 5 8 ) . I f
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33 6 BROWN AND MC NEILL
a l a n g u a g e u s e d a l l p o s s i b le s e q u e n c e s o f
p h o n e m e s ( o r l e t t e r s ) i t s w o r d s c o u l d b e
s h o r t e r, b u t t h e y w o u l d b e m u c h m o r e v u l -
n e r a b l e t o m i s c o n s t r u c t i o n . A c h a n g e o f a n y
s i n g l e l e t t e r w o u l d r e s u l t i n r e c e p t i o n o f a
d i f f e r e n t w o r d . A s m a t t e r s a r e a c t u a l l y a r -
r a n g e d , m o s t c h a n g e s r e s u l t i n n o w o r d a t
a l l ; f o r e x a m p l e :
textant sixtant sektant.
O u r w o r d s a r e h i g h l y r e d u n d a n t a n d f a i rl y
i n d e s t r u c t i b l e .
U n d e r w o o d ( 1 9 6 3 ) h a s m a d e a di s t in c t i on
f o r t h e l e a r n i n g o f n o n s e n s e s y l l a b l e s b e -
t w e e n t h e n o m i n a l s t i m u l u s w h i c h i s t h e
s y l la b l e p r e s e n t e d a n d t h e f u n c t i o n a l s t im -
u l u s w h i c h i s t h e s e t o f c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f t h e
s y l l a b l e a c t u a l l y u s e d t o c u e t h e r e s p o n s e .
U n d e r w o o d r e v i ew s e v i d e n c e s h o w i n g t h a t
c o l le g e s t u d e n t s l e a r n i n g p a i r e d - a s s o c i a t e s d o
n o t l e a r n a n y m o r e o f a s t im u l u s t r i g r a m
t h a n t h e y h a v e t o . If , f o r i n s t a n c e , e a c h o f
a s e t o f s t i m u l u s t r i g r a m s h a s a d i f f e re n t
i n i t i a l l e t t e r , t h e n S s a r e n o t l i k e l y t o l e a r n
l e t t e r s o t h e r t h a n t h e f i r s t , s i n c e t h e y d o
n o t n e e d t h e m .
F e i g e n b a u m ( 1 9 6 3 ) h a s w r i t t e n a c o m -
p u t e r p r o g r a m ( E P A M ) w h i c h s i m u l a t es
t h e s e l e c t i v e - a t t e n t i o n a s p e c t o f v e r b a l l e a r n -
i n g a s w e l l a s m a n y o t h e r a s p e c t s . . . .
E P A M h a s a
noticing order ]or letters of
syllables
w h i c h p r e s c r ib e s a t a n y m o m e n t a
l e t t e r - s c a n n i n g s e q u e n c e f o r t h e m a t c h i n g
p r o c e ss . B e c a u s e i t is o b s e r v e d t h a t s u b j e c t s
g e n e r a l l y c o n s i d e r e n d l e t t e r s b e f o r e m i d d l e
l e t t e r s , t h e n o t i c i n g o r d e r i s i n i t i a l i z e d a s
f o l l o w s : f i r s t l e t t e r , t h i r d l e t t e r , s e c o n d l e t -
t e r ( p . 3 0 4 ) . W e b e l i e v e t h a t t h e di f f e re n -
t i a l r e c a l l o f l e t t e r s i n v a r i o u s p o s i t i o n s , r e -
v e a l e d i n F i g . 1 o f t h i s p a p e r , i s t o b e
e x p l a i n e d b y t h e o p e r a t i o n i n t h e p e r c e p t i o n
o f r e a l w o r d s o f a r u l e v e r y m u c h l i k e F e i g e n -
b a u m ' s .
Feigenbaum's EPAM is so wri t ten as to make
it possible for the noticing rule to be changed by
experience. If the middle position Were consistently
the posit ion that differentiated syllables, the com-
puter would learn to look there first . We suggest
that the human tendency to look first at the begin-
ning of a word, then at the end and finally the
middle has grow n in response to the distribu-
t ion of information in words. Miller and Friedman
(1957) asked English speakers to guess letters for
various open posit ions in segments of English text
that were 5, 7, or 11 characters lon g: The percent-
ages of correct first guesses show a very clear serial
position effect for segments of all three lengths.
Success was lowest in the early positions, next
lowest in the final posit ions, and a t a maxim um in
the middle posit ions. Therefore, information was
greatest at the start of a word, next greatest at the
end, and least in the middle. Attention needs to be
turned where information is, to the parts of the
word that cannot be guessed. The Miller and Fried-
man segments did not necessari ly break at word
boundaries but their discovery that the middle
positions of continuous text are more easily guessed
than the ends applies to words.
Is there any evidence that speakers of English do
attend first to the ends of English words? There is
no evidence that the eye fixations of adult readers
consistently favor part icular parts of words (Wood-
worth and Schlosberg, 1954). However, i t is not
eye fixation that we have in mind. A considerable
stretch of text can be taken in from a single fixa-
t ion point . We are suggesting that there is selection
within this stretch, selection accomplished centrally;
perhaps by a mechanism like Broadbent 's (1958)
biased fi l ter.
Bruner and O'Do wd (1958) studied word per-
ception with tachistoscopic exposures too brief to
permit more than one fixation. In each word pre-
sented there was a single reversal of two let ters and
the S knew this. His task was to identify the
actual
English word responding as quickly as pos-
sible. When the
actual
word was AVIATION, Ss
were presented with one of the following: VAIA-
TION, AVITAION, AVIATINO. Ident i f icat ion of
the actual word as AVIAT ION was best when S
saw AVITAION, next best when he saw AVIA-
TINO, and most d i f f icul t when he saw VAIATION.
In general , a reversal of the two init ial let ters made
identification most difficult, reversal of the last two
letters made it somewhat less difficult, reversal in
the middle made least difficulty. This is what should
happen if words are first scanned init ial ly, then
finally, then medially. But the scanning cannot be
a mat ter of eye movements; i t must be more cent ral .
Selective at tention to the ends of wo rds should
lead to the entry of these parts into the mental
dictionary, in advance of the middle parts. However,
we ordinari ly need to know more than the ends
of words. Underwood has pointed out (1963), in
connection with paired-associate learning, that
while part ial knowledge may be enough for a st im-
ulus syllable which need only be recognized i t wil l
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~ T I P O F T H E T O N G U E " P H E N O M E N O N 3 3 7
not su ff ice fo r a response i tem which mus t be
produced . T he case is s imi a r fo r na t u ra l language .
In o rd e r to s p e a k o n e m u s t k n o w a l l o f a w o rd .
H o w e v e r , t h e w o rd s o f t h e p re s e n t s tu d y w e re lo w -
f re q u e n c y w o rd s , w o rd s l i k e ly to b e in th e p a s s iv e
o r r e c o g n i tio n v o c a b u la r i e s o f t h e c o l l e g e - s tu d e n t S s
b u t n o t i n th e i r a c t iv e v o c a b u la r i e s ; s t im u lu s i t e m s ,
in e ffec t , ra the r than response i tems . I f knowledge
o f th e p a r t s o f n e w w o rd s b e g in s a t t h e e n d s a n d
m o v e s t o w a r d t h e m i d d l e w e m i g h t e x p e c t a w o r d
like numismatics, which was on our l is t , to be s t i l l
r e g i s t e r e d a s N U M _ _ _ _ I C S . R e d u c e d e n t r i e s o f
th i s s o r t w o u ld in m a n y c o n te x t s s e rv e to r e t r i e v e
the de f in i t ion .
T h e a rg u m e n t i s r e in fo rc e d b y a w e l l -k n o w n
effect in spelling. Jen sen (1962) has anal yze d
thousands o f spe l l ing e rro rs fo r words o f 7 , 9 ,
o r 1 1 l e t t e r s m a d e b y c h i ld re n in th e e ig h th a n d
te n th g ra d e s a n d b y ju n io r c o l le g e f r e s h m e n . A
s tr ik ing se r ia l po s i t ion e ffec t appears in a l l h is se ts
o f d a t a s u c h th a t e r ro r s a re m o s t c o m m o n in th e
m id d le o f t h e w o rd , n e x t m o s t c o m m o n a t t h e e n d ,
a n d l e a s t c o m m o n a t t h e s t a r t . T h e s e r e s u l t s a re a s
th e y s h o u ld b e i f t h e o rd e r o f a t t e n t io n a n d e n t ry
o f in fo rm a t io n i s f i r s t , l a s t , a n d th e n , m id d le . J e n -
s e n ' s r e s u l t s s h o w u s w h a t h a p p e n s w h e n c h i ld re n
a re fo rc e d to p ro d u c e w o rd s th a t a re s t i l l o n th e
recogni t io n leve l . His resu l ts remind us o f those
b lu e b o o k s in w h ic h s tu d e n t s w h o a re u n c e r t a in o f
th e s p e l l in g o f a w o rd w r i t e t h e f i r s t a n d l a s t l e t -
t e r s w i th g re a t c l a r i ty a n d f i ll i n th e m id d le w i th
indec ipherab le squ igg les . Tha t is wha t shou ld hap-
p e n w h e n a w o rd th a t c a n b e o n ly p a r t i a l ly r e -
c a l l e d m u s t b e p ro d u c e d in i t s e n t i r e ty . E n d l e t t e r s
a n d a s t r e t c h o f s q u ig g le s m a y , h o w e v e r , b e q u i t e
a d e q u a te fo r r e c o g n i t io n p u rp o s e s . In th e T O T
e x p e r im e n t w e h a v e p e rh a p s p a c e d a d u l t S s in a
s i tu a t io n c o m p a ra b le to th a t c re a t e d fo r c h i ld re n b y
Jensen ' s spe l l ing te s ts .
T h e r e a r e t w o p o i n t s t o c l a r i f y a n d t h e
a r g u m e n t i s f i n is h e d . T h e S s in o u r e x p e r i -
m e n t w e r e c o l l eg e s t u d e n t s , a n d s o i n o r d e r
t o o b t a i n w o r d s o n t h e m a r g i n o f k n o w l e d g e
w e h a d t o us e w o r d s t h a t a r e v e r y i n f r e q u e n t
i n E n g l i s h a s a w h o l e . I t i s n o t o u r t h o u g h t ,
h o w e v e r , t h a t t h e T O T p h e n o m e n o n o c c u rs
o n l y w i t h r a r e w o r d s . T h e a b s o l u t e l o c a t i o n
o f t h e m a r g i n o f w o r d k n o w l e d g e i s a f u n c -
t i o n o f S ' s ag e a n d e d u c a t i o n , a n d s o w i t h
o t h e r S s w e w o u l d e x p e c t t o o b t a i n T O T
s t a t es f o r w o r d s m o r e f r e q u e n t i n E n g l i s h .
F i n a l l y t h e n e e d t o p r o d u c e ( o r r e c al l ) a
w o r d i s n o t t h e o n l y f a c t o r t h a t i s ] i k e l y t o
e n c o u r a g e r e g i s t r a t i o n o f i ts m i d d l e l e t te r s .
T h e a m o u n t o f d e t a i l n e e d e d t o s p e c if y a
w o r d u n i q u e l y m u s t i n c r e a s e w i t h t h e t o t a l
n u m b e r o f w o r d s k n o w n , t h e n u m b e r f r o m
w h i c h a n y o n e is to b e d i s t i n g u i s h e d . C o n s e -
q u e n t l y t h e g r o w t h o f v o c a b u l a r y , a s w e ll a s
t h e n e e d t o r e c a l l , s h o u l d h a v e s o m e p o w e r
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