title: Does priming specific syllables during tip-of-the-tongue states facilitate word retrieval in older adults?
abstract: This experiment investigated whether phonological priming of syllables helps resolve tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states in young and older adults. Young, young-old, and old-old adults read general knowledge questions and responded "know," "TOT," or "don't know" accordingly. Participants then read a list of 10 words that included 3 phonological primes corresponding solely to the first, middle, or last syllable of the target word. Young and young-old adults resolved more TOTs after first-syllable primes, but old-old adults showed no increase in TOT resolution following any primes. These results indicate that presentation of the first syllable of a missing word strengthens the weakened phonological connections that cause TOTs and increases word retrieval, but not for old-old adults who experience greater deficits in the transmission of priming across these connections.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611-2250, USA.
authors.forename: Katherine K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Lise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Abrams
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged