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The "Tip of the Tongue" Phenomenon

     Have you ever struggled to recall a word--perhaps the name of a place, person, or a specific tongue--and felt like it was "on the tip of your tongue"? Well, the good thing is that almost everyone has experienced this feeling before, and while frustrating, the "tip of the tongue" (TOT) phenomenon is a cognitive glitch that gives us a decent insight into the way our brains encode and store memories.

    In psychology terms, the TOT phenomenon is a temporary failure of the brain to recall a piece of stored information. In many cases of the TOT phenomenon, you may recall things about the word like the letter it starts with or what it rhymes with. This phenomenon is not a sign that there is anything wrong with one's brain, however--this is a phenomenon that everyone can be subjected to regardless of age or brain health. 

    In terms of what is actually happening in one's brain biologically when the TOT phenomenon occurs, think of the brain as a network of pathways. When one tries to recall a stored memory, the brain sends signals down these pathways. When the TOT phenomenon occurs, this means that the brain has activated partial or incomplete networks related to the memory that one is attempting to recall. Phonological retrieval--the sounds associated with the word--might be partially activated, and semantic memory (meaning based memory) is fully activated. The memory of the complete word--lexical access--is temporarily blocked. 

    There are a few major theories as to why the TOT phenomenon occurs in the first place. One theory is the blocking hypothesis; this hypothesis states that the reason lexical access might be blocked in one's brain is because a similar word to the desired one pops into mind and blocks access to the desired word. A second theory is the incomplete activation hypothesis which theorizes that lexical access to words is blocked if they were not properly encoded into memory.

    The TOT phenomenon is an interesting one because of the way it resolves itself. Even after one stops trying to recall a word, their brain continues working to recall it unconsciously. This is the reason why hours or even days after experiencing TOT, the word one was looking for might pop into mind suddenly. The TOT phenomenon is evidence that it is possible to "know" something without having constant mental access to the information. The true way to counter TOT is to move on with your day, and the information you were trying to retrieve will find you on its own!

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