Priming the tip of the tongue: Effects of prior processing on word retrieval in young and older adults

We test the prediction that recent processing of a word will decrease the probability of a tip-of-the-tongue state (TOT) to a general knowledge question and that semantic processing will be superior to phonological processing in improving correct recall, but not in reducing TOTs. In Experiment 1, pronunciation of answers in an ostensibly unrelated prior task increased young acid older adults' correct answers to general knowledge questions and decreased TOTs uniformly across age, although older adults produced more TOTs. In Experiments 2 and 3, semantic prior processing increased correct responses to the questions, but did not reduce TOTs more than phonological processing. These results support the Transmission Deficit model in which weakened connections between lexical and phonological nodes cause TOTs. The explanation of aging effects on priming and word retrieval integrates processing and memory systems approaches. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.