The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon involves specific cognitive mechanisms for memory retrieval
the verdict
SUPPORTED
the evidence backs this
confidence 85/100
Evidence strongly supports the claim that the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is governed by specific cognitive and neural mechanisms involved in memory retrieval, such as lexical accessibility, mnemonic variables, and prefrontal cortex activation.
Evidence for · 4
Temporal characterization of memory retrieval processes: an fMRI study of the ‘tip of the tongue’ phenomenon
2001 · cited by 37
Maril et al. (2001) used fMRI to demonstrate that specific brain regions, such as the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, are temporally dissociated and functionally specific to successful memory retrieval during tip-of-the-tongue states.
See more details
More for · 3
Mnemonic factors associated with the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.
2025 · cited by 1
Bajo et al. (2025) found that specific mnemonic factors like age of acquisition, retrieval frequency, and recency reliably predict tip-of-the-tongue occurrences during semantic retrieval.
Exploring the "Tip of the Tongue" and "Feeling of Knowing" Phenomena During Advanced Aging: The Interplay of Age of Acquisition, Vocabulary and Verbal Fluency.
2025 · cited by 0
Ulu et al. (2025) applied a two-step word retrieval framework to show how lexical variables systematically impact tip-of-the-tongue and feeling-of-knowing cognitive states in word retrieval.
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomena: an introductory phenomenological analysis.
2000 · cited by 0
Schwartz (2000) integrates cognitive, functional, and phenomenological approaches to examine how cognitive mechanisms and inhibitory processes underlie tip-of-the-tongue states.