Abstract
Auditory cues (the target word distorted by a low-pass filter) and rhyming cues act as retrieval aids for people who have a word on the tip of their tongue. Parallels between the tip-of-thetongue phenomenon (TOT) and the perception of well-put passages of poetry are also discussed. It is argued that the effects of these poetic passages derive in part from the engagement of TOT-like processes. In support of this hypothesis, poets (poetry appreciators) are shown to be more aware of being helped by TOT retrieval cues than are nonpoets (poetry nonappreciators); however, the retrieval cues do not differentially influence successful recall of TOT words by poets and nonpoets.
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This research was supported by a grant from Wesleyan University.
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Kozlowski, L.T. Effects of distorted auditory and of rhyming cues on retrieval of tip-of-the-tongue words by poets and nonpoets. Memory & Cognition 5, 477–481 (1977). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197389
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197389