'Tip of My Tongue': Why We Forget

Words
Vocabulary
neurological
Adjective
ˌ n ʊ r əˈ l ɑː d ʒɪ kl
relating to the nerves and nervous system
Head injuries can sometimes lead to neurological problems.
phenomenon
Noun
f ɪˈ n ɑː m əˌ n ɑː n
a fact or situation that is seen to exist or happen, especially one whose cause is not
well understood
The Northern Lights are a beautiful natural phenomenon.
metaphor
Noun
ˈ m ɛ t əˌ f ɔː r
a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is used to refer to something else to
suggest a similarity
I always get confused between metaphors and similes.
abstract
Adjective
ˈ æbstrækt
existing in thought or as an idea
It's hard to teach young children abstract concepts.
stuck
Adjective
st ʌ k
unable to continue a task or find a solution to a problem
If you get stuck on any of the questions, don't hesitate to ask for help.
partway
Adverb
ˈ p ɑː rtwe ɪ
some of the way through something
I was partway through the film when I realized I had already seen it.
 Article
'Tip of My Tongue': Why We Forget Words
We use the phrase, "It's on the tip of my tongue," when we're sure we know
a word, but can't remember it at that moment. This isn't just a clever
English idiom, however — it's a real neurological phenomenon called
"lethologica."

This term comes from the Greek lethe, or "forgetfulness," and logos, or
"word." But researchers often simply call it a "tip-of-the-tongue state," or
TOT state for short.

TOT states are common around the world — a 1999 survey found that more
than three-quarters of languages even use a tongue metaphor similar to
the one used in English to describe them.

Why do they happen? Well, producing language is a complicated process:

our brain has to take abstract ideas and translate them into the words we
need. This normally goes smoothly, explains Karin Humphreys of Canada's
McMaster University. "But in this case, the system breaks down and you get
stuck partway through," she told Mental Floss in 2015.

They can even happen more than once for the same word. In a 2008 study,
Humphreys found that the longer you spend trying to think of a word
before being reminded what it is, the more likely you are to have another
TOT state when you try to remember that word again later.

However, in a 2015 study, she also found that people were less likely to
have another TOT state if they remembered the word themselves rather
than being told what it was.

Other studies have found that people actually tend to remember the word
they want more than 90% of the time.

Humphreys said TOT states often happen when people are tired, and are
more likely when trying to remember proper names.
Age seems to play a part too. A 1999 study in which participants kept a
diary of how often they experienced TOT states found that they were more
common among older people. Young adults aged 18 to 24 experienced
them about once or twice a week, but they were twice as frequent among
people aged 80 to 92.