Characteristics of Tip of the Tongue Phenomenon on the Task of Naming Celebrities in Healthy Elderly Adults

Abstract

Objectives: In general, the incidence of Tip of the tongue (TOT) phenomenon increases with age, but studies on the difference in the incidence of TOT phenomenon according to the age of healthy elderly adults are limited. The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence and resolution rate of the TOT, and to find out the change in performance according to the syllabic clues.Methods: Ninety-six healthy elderly people whose age range was between 65 and 84 years old participated in the study. Participants were divided into three groups: 55-64 years old, 65-74 years old, and 75-84 years old age range groups. The TOT task used 30 questions about celebrity naming organized by period and category.Results: First, there was a significant difference of the TOT rate by age group, and as the age increased, the TOT rate due to partial retrieval failure and total retrieval failure increased. Second, the rate of TOT response type that explained the celebrity’s occupation was the highest in all groups. Third, there were significant differences between groups in both the voluntary TOT resolution rate and the TOT resolution rate after providing the syllabic clue. The recovery rate after the syllabic clues decreased with increasing age.Conclusion: This study observed the difference in characteristics of TOT phenomenon in elderly adults according to age group and the importance of phonological clues in TOT phenomenon resolution.