The Relationship Between the Phonological Processing Network and the Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon: Evidence from...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Linguistics

Background:

• The tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon involves temporary word retrieval failure despite familiarity.
• Existing theories, like the blocking and transmission deficit hypotheses, debate the role of phonological processing in TOT.
• The precise relationship between phonological network integrity and TOT occurrence requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the link between the microstructural integrity of the brain's phonological processing network and TOT frequency.
• To test the blocking hypothesis by examining network properties and their correlation with TOT rates.

Main Methods:

• Utilized graph-theoretical analyses on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data from 576 participants (aged 18-87) from the Cam-CAN dataset.
• Examined global and nodal network properties of the phonological processing network.
• Correlated network metrics with self-reported TOT rates.

Main Results:

• Higher global efficiency and mean degree centrality of the phonological network positively predicted TOT rates.
• Nodal efficiency in the bilateral posterior superior temporal gyrus and clustering coefficient in the left premotor cortex positively predicted TOT.
• Degree centrality in the left dorsal superior temporal gyrus (dSTG) and clustering coefficient in the left posterior supramarginal gyrus (pSMG) negatively predicted TOT.

Conclusions:

• Findings support the blocking hypothesis, indicating that a more interconnected phonological network is associated with increased TOT experiences.
• The left dSTG and pSMG play crucial roles in word retrieval, potentially mitigating TOT occurrences.
• Network-based analysis provides insights into the neural underpinnings of word retrieval and the TOT phenomenon.