[The phenomenon of the tip of the tongue in aging].
This paper presents new data on the tip of the tongue (TOT) phenomenon and its resolution in aging. 140 volunteers ranging from 19 to 82 years participated in an experiment using definitions about common names, proper names, adjectives and verbs to elicit TOTs. We studied the resolution of the TOTs introducing a free word-recall task and a priming task. Older adults experienced more TOTs than younger adults regardless of the level of vocabulary. Phonological priming, and not free recall of words, improved resolution for the older adults. The results are discussed in relation to the theory of the transmission deficit.
Juncos-Rabadán
Onésimo
O
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain. pejuncos@usc.es
Facal
David
D
Alvarez
Montserrat
M
Rodríguez
María Soledad
MS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D010700:Phonetics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014825:Vocabulary; D014888:Wechsler Scales