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The "tip of the tongue" phenomenon

The common experience of having a name or word on the tip of the tongue seems related to specific perceptual attributes. In particular, people who report the tip-of-the-tongue feeling tend to\( ^{(A)} \) identify the word's first letter and number of syllables with an accuracy that far exceeds mere guessing\( ^{(C)} \). There is evidence that the mind may encode data about when information was learned and about how often it has been experienced. Some memories seem to embrace spatial information; e.g., one remembers a particular news item to be on the lower right-hand side of the front page of a newspaper. Research indicates that the rate of forgetting varies\( ^{(B)} \) for different attributes. For example, memories in which auditory attributes seem dominant tend to be more rapidly forgotten than those with minimal acoustic characteristics.

If a designated (target) memory consists of a collection of attributes, its recall or retrieval should be enhanced by any cue that indicates one of the attributes\( ^{(D)} \). For example, on failing to recall the term horse (included in a list they have just seen), people may be asked if an associated term (say, barn or zebra) helps them recall the word. While some additional recall has been observed with this kind of help, failures are common even with ostensibly relevant cues. Though it is possible that the cues frequently are inappropriate, nevertheless, if words were not learned (encoded or stored) with accompanying attributes, cueing of any kind should be ineffective.

Adapted from: A Practice TOEFL: Form 2 in The Newbury House TOEFL Preparation Kit.