Naturally occurring and experimentally induced tip-of-the-tongue experiences in three adult age groups

Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) experiences were examined in 30 young (ages 18-24 y ears), 30 young-old (ages 60-74), and 30 old-old (ages 80-92) adults. In St udy 1, TOT experiences were experimentally induced with definitions of to-b e-retrieved targets. If the target was not retrieved, orthographic or seman tic cues were provided. Age-related increases in the occurrence of TOT expe riences and in the time needed to resolve TOT experiences were found for yo ung versus young-old and young-old versus old- old groups; all comparisons were significant except for young versus young-old TOT occurrence, which ap proached significance. In Study 2, the same participants recorded naturally occurring TOT experiences in structured diaries during a 4-week interval. Both the number of TOT experiences and the resolution time for TOT experien ces increased with age. However, the percentage of TOT experiences resolved was equal across age groups; given enough time, even the oldest participan ts resolved virtually all TOT experiences.