Lexical Retrieval Failure or Metacognitive Awareness - Term Paper Example

We will argue that metacognitive influences are the defining characteristic of TOT experiences while considering that retrieval may also play an important part in these occurrences.

In a 1992 study, Meyer and Bock examined the TOT state with a focus only on retrieval failure. The authors performed three different experiments to evaluate the TOT state for incidences of either partial activation of the word or blocking due to similar words. Their findings suggest that partial activation is more likely to contribute to TOT experiences than blocking. The reason for this conclusion falls largely upon the observation that TOTs were less common in situations where phonological blocking should occur. They also found that TOTs were less common (and retrieval more common) when phonological cues were used as opposed to semantic cues. The authors suggest that this finding is due to a larger amount of information about the word itself being contained in phonological information.

A study by Schwartz and Smith (1997) examined informational influences on TOT states using the names of make-believe animals (TOTimals). The authors conducted three experiments in which subjects were presented with one of three possible levels of information about the TOTimal. It was revealed that TOT states were more common as the amount of information recalled by the subject (specifically pictorial information and information provoked by cues) and the amount of information provided at encoding increased. These findings are in direct violation of the idea that retrieval failure is the cause of TOTs. The researchers suggest that these findings stress the importance of the subjective experience of having information during TOT states, and demonstrate the dissociation between the TOT state and retrieval attempts.

Sometimes a study will add support to a concept that the authors have not considered in their research. In a study by James and Burke (2000), the effect of phonological priming on TOT states was investigated in two experiments. It was found that phonologically related words were related to reduced TOTs and increases in the retrieval of correct answers. The authors interpret these findings as evidence for weak phonological retrieval as the underlying source of TOTs. However, if we consider this study in light of Meyer and Bock’s findings (1992), then it is reasonable to explain the effects as being due to an increased amount of information being included in phonological cues, rather than a direct connection to memory retrieval.
Pyers, Gollan, and Emmorey (2009) explored TOT states as they occur in bilingual subjects. The authors did not limit bilingualism to phonological language, as a group of participants were fluent in sign language as well as spoken language. The inclusion of this condition allowed for the examination of phonological interference as a possible cause of TOT states. Their experiment resulted in the finding that TOT rates are more common in bilinguals than monolinguals, but do not differ between speaking-only and sign-speech groups. These findings indicate that phonological interference is not a significant influencer of TOT states. It is interpreted that these findings lend support to an incomplete-activation theory of TOTs. However, it could be argued that phonology is implied in sign language as learned by a hearing person who knows a verbal language and that the reason for equality between bilingual group TOT experiences is the equal amount of information provided by both types of language.

In the studies we have examined thus far, information has proven to be an important concept when considering the cognitive processing behind TOT states. The ability to be aware of this information is known as metacognition, and it is argued to be the primary contributor to TOT states. Schwartz and Metcalfe (2011) provide a theory that accounts for the metacognitive nature of TOT experiences while considering the relationship between TOTs and retrieval failure. This theory unites the direct-access approach, which considers that retrieval failures lead to TOTs, and the heuristic-metacognitive view of TOTs as awareness of information. The synthesis is accomplished through the understanding that retrieval failures do often lead to TOT states, but they are not sufficient to induce one without metacognitive awareness.

The research we have examined is a brief representation of the path taken by researchers in the study of TOT states since the 1990s. There is a sufficient amount of evidence for TOTs as a predominantly metacognitive process, without discounting recall failure as a necessary but insufficient component of the experience. Information is a key component in achieving a TOT state, and the awareness of information is a primarily metacognitive process. Additionally, a TOT state would not occur without some form of retrieval failure that motivates the metacognitive evaluation of encoded information. These findings should prove fruitful by inspiring new research to better understand the intricacies of the involved processes and to develop treatments and other applications from TOT-based experimentation. Read More