The effect of being in a tip-of-the-tongue state on subsequent items.
The tip-of-the-tongue state (TOT) is the feeling that an inaccessible item will be recalled. In the TOT induction paradigm, participants are given a list of general information questions or word definitions, and the participants indicate whether they are in a TOT for each item. The present study explored the effect that being in a TOT for one item (N) has on the recall and the likelihood of a TOT for the subsequent item (N + 1). Three experiments were conducted. All three experiments showed that TOTs do not affect the rate of recall for the next item but decrease the likelihood of a TOT for the next item. This effect extended to items occurring two items after the initial TOT (N + 2) in two experiments. Thus, TOTs are less likely to occur after another TOT than after an item not in a TOT. These data are interpreted within a metacognitive framework.
Department of Psychology, Florida International University, University Park, Miami, FL 33199, USA. bennett.schwartz@fiu.edu
Bennett L
BL
Schwartz
D001288:Attention; D006801:Humans; D011939:Mental Recall; D011930:Reaction Time; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D014706:Verbal Learning
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