NAME RETRIEVAL BY THE ELDERLY IN THE TIP‐OF‐THE‐TONGUE PARADIGM: DEMONSTRABLE SUCCESS IN OVERCOMING INITIAL FAILURE

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Abstract
Elderly subjects were presented with name questions from the popular game of Trivial Pursuit to induce tip‐of‐the‐tongue (TOT) states. TOT states occur when one knows that one knows a name but cannot retrieve it immediately. TOT name states are a major memory complaint of the elderly. When in a TOT state, subjects were encouraged to search for the missing name, and various retrieval strategies were suggested. The results of this demonstration study indicated that TOT states were elicited easily in the elderly, retrieval effort—and/or retrieval strategies—led to retrieval success in 48% of the TOT states within 2‐3 min, and metamemorial TOT judgment was highly accurate. The practical implications are that, when in a TOT state, retrieval effort by the elderly will lead to demonstrable retrieval success; when the elderly believe a name remains stored in memory, it likely is; and the game of Trivial Pursuit may be a good technique for maintaining and/or enhancing retrieval skill and metamemorial confidence.

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