The tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon refers to the experience of feeling confident that one knows an answer, yet is unable to produce the word. For example, in conversation or writing most people have had the occasional experience of trying, but failing to retrieve someone's name or a word from memory. This type of memory retrieval has been referred to as a tipof-the-tongue (TOT) state because one experiences the frustrating feeling that the retrieval of the word is imminent and on the "tip of the tongue." Although psychologists have long been aware of this phenomenon, Roger Brown and David McNeill (1966) conducted one of the first experimental studies of TOT states. In this study, they attempted to experimentally induce TOT states in college students by presenting definitions of relatively rare words (e.g., to give up the throne). The subjects' task was to name the word for the definition...