Language
Tip-of-the-Tongue Task
Also called: tip of the tongue task, TOT task, tip-of-the-tongue paradigm, TOT induction, word-finding task, definition naming task
Measure word-finding states: participants read definitions of rare words and type each word or say it is on the tip of the tongue, then try again with its first letter.
8-12 minUntimed
Free to start: 10 free participants per account, then $0.99 per participant for academic research, or any yearly plan. Try it here first, with no account.
- Papers, 2021 to 2025
- 45
- Evidence grade
- C
- Registered clinical studies
- 0
What it measures
Measures how often a known word will not come to mind. Participants read the English definitions of 40 rare words and type each word, or say that it is on the tip of the tongue or not known. A tip-of-the-tongue answer brings a second try with the word's first letter. The main score is the share of tip-of-the-tongue states.
Constructs
- Word retrieval
- Partial access to word forms
- Feeling of knowing
- Vocabulary knowledge
Research uses
- Language production and word retrieval research
- Research on word finding across the adult years
- Within-study group comparison
How the paradigm works
The Tip-of-the-Tongue Task measures how often a word a person knows will not come to mind. Brown and McNeill (1966) gave people the definitions of rare words and caught the state in which a familiar word cannot quite be recalled while words of similar form and meaning can; people in that state could often tell parts of the word, such as letters of it and its number of syllables. Burke and colleagues (1991) studied the state in young and older adults with diaries and a laboratory task. Meyer and Bock (1992) found that a cue sharing the word's sound helped people retrieve rare words from their definitions, as earlier studies had found for the word's first letter.
More about the paradigm
Each screen shows an English definition, written for this test, of one of 40 rare words, such as a device that ticks at a steady speed for musicians (metronome). The participant types the word, or chooses On the tip of my tongue when sure of knowing the word but unable to bring it to mind, or I don't know. After On the tip of my tongue comes a second try with the word's first letter; a setting can leave the letter out. If the word still does not come, the next screen shows it and asks whether it was the word in mind, as Brown and McNeill told states for the word apart from states for another word. Each try waits up to 30 seconds by default. Two practice definitions, each followed by the word, come first, and the order is drawn from the session's seed.
Typed answers are scored by rule against each word and any equally fitting name listed for it. Case, articles and plurals are ignored, and one spelling slip counts in words of four or more letters, unless the slip spells another English word. The primary score is the percent of definitions answered On the tip of my tongue. The test also reports the percent of those states resolved on the second try, the percent that were the word, the percent of words named on the first try and of I don't know answers, and counts of each kind of answer. The definitions and the words are English; sessions run in other languages are flagged for review.
Scores
- Tip-of-the-Tongue States%
- Percent of the definitions shown answered On the tip of my tongue.
- No better direction; read across a group
- States Resolved%
- Of the tip-of-the-tongue states, the percent in which the word was typed on the second try.
- Context for the primary score; null with no states
- States for the Word%
- Of the tip-of-the-tongue states, the percent that were the word: resolved, or the word shown afterwards was the one in mind.
- Context for the primary score; null with no states
- Words Named%
- Percent of the definitions named on the first try with the word, an accepted name or either with one spelling slip.
- Context for the scores
- I Don't Know%
- Percent of the definitions answered I don't know.
- 90% or more is flagged for review
- Statescount
- Definitions answered On the tip of my tongue.
- 90% of the definitions or more invalidates the session
- States Resolved, Countcount
- Tip-of-the-tongue states in which the word was typed on the second try.
- Context for the scores
- States for the Word, Countcount
- Tip-of-the-tongue states that were the word: resolved, or confirmed when the word was shown.
- Context for the scores
- States for Another Wordcount
- Unresolved states in which the word shown was not the one in mind.
- Context for the scores
- Other Wordscount
- First tries that typed a word other than the target or an accepted name.
- Context for the scores
- No Answerscount
- First tries with nothing typed before the time ran out.
- Half the planned definitions or more invalidates the session
- Spelling Slipscount
- Correct answers, on either try, with one letter added, missing, changed or swapped.
- Context for the scores
- Median Time to First Keyms
- Median time from the definition to the first key press on words named on the first try, over presses at or after 100 ms.
- Context for the scores
- Paste Attemptscount
- Times text was pasted or dropped into the box. Pasting is blocked.
- Context for the scores
- Definitionscount
- Definitions recorded in the scored run.
- Fewer than planned is flagged for review
- Planned Definitionscount
- Definitions the session planned to show.
- Informational
- Session in Another Language0/1
- 1 when the session ran in a language other than English, the language of the definitions.
- 1 is flagged for review
Use and evidence
45 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, up 36% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 313 of 495 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 21 |
| 2024 | 6 |
| 2023 | 3 |
| 2022 | 9 |
| 2021 | 6 |
| 2020 | 3 |
| 2019 | 4 |
| 2018 | 9 |
| 2017 | 9 |
| 2016 | 8 |
| 2015 | 8 |
| 2014 | 19 |
| 2013 | 12 |
| 2012 | 13 |
| 2011 | 6 |
| 2010 | 14 |
| 2009 | 10 |
| 2008 | 8 |
| 2007 | 8 |
| 2006 | 7 |
| 2005 | 8 |
| 2004 | 7 |
| 2003 | 4 |
| 2002 | 7 |
| 2001 | 8 |
| 2000 | 5 |
Use grade D
30 to 99 papers from 2021 to 2025.
Evidence grade C
At least 2 test-retest papers, 30 reliability or validity papers or 3 registered clinical studies.
- Papers on test-retest reliability
- 6
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 9
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 0
How the grades work
Use: A is 1,000 or more papers from 2021 to 2025, B 300 to 999, C 100 to 299, D 30 to 99 and E fewer than 30. Evidence: A means at least 25 papers report its test-retest reliability and at least 25 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome; B, at least 8 test-retest papers, and either 5 registered clinical studies or 150 reliability or validity papers; C, at least 2 test-retest papers, 30 reliability or validity papers or 3 registered clinical studies; D, little published measurement evidence found. The counts measure use. They include every paper that names the task in its title or abstract. Grades describe the published research on this task, not ConductCognition's version of it.
Source: ConductCognition test census 0.22.0, counted 2 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
Task design
The trial sequence as the test runs in ConductCognition.
- Words
- 40 rare English words, Zipf 2.09 to 3.31, mostly names of things such as metronome, tadpole and unicycle, each with a definition written for this test.
- Definitions
- Checked by rule: none shares a run of four or more words with an Open English WordNet gloss of its word, and none uses the word or a word sharing its first four letters.
- Answers
- Type the word, or choose On the tip of my tongue or I don't know. Enter or a button submits, with word correction off. Spoken answers are not recorded.
- Second try
- After On the tip of my tongue, a second try shows the word's first letter (standard), or no hint as a setting. If the word still does not come, it is shown, and the participant says whether it was the word in mind.
- Time
- Up to 30 seconds for each try (standard; 15 to 60). Whatever has been typed at the limit counts as the answer.
- Order
- All 40 definitions in an order drawn from the session's seed, after 2 practice definitions, each followed by the word.
- Scoring
- The word, an equally fitting name listed for it or either with one spelling slip counts as named; case, articles and plurals are ignored.
The definitions, the word list and the scoring rule were written for this test. The share of tip-of-the-tongue states has no better direction and is read across a group, and there are no percentiles. The definitions and words are English; sessions run in other languages are flagged for review.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
Scored rows: tip_of_the_tongue_first from the scored run, one first try for each definition, with the second try and the confirmation after each tip-of-the-tongue state. A named word has no chance level, so accuracy is not judged against chance. Answers on fewer than half the planned definitions invalidate. On the tip of my tongue on 90% of the definitions invalidates, and I don't know on 90% is flagged. Answers under 200 ms on at least half the definitions invalidate. Fewer definitions than planned withhold the percentile. A session run in another language is flagged. A hidden tab withholds the percentile.
Why these rules
There is no correct option to compare with chance, so accuracy is not judged against chance. Not knowing a rare word is a real result, so I don't know never invalidates, but a share of tip-of-the-tongue states read from fewer than half the definitions cannot be compared with a full session. A tip-of-the-tongue state is a sense of knowing one particular word, so the same answer for nearly every rare word does not come from the words. An answer under 200 ms is faster than a simple visual reaction, so it cannot reflect the item. Following response-time effort screening for untimed tests (Wise and Kong 2005), the session is invalid only when at least half the answers are that fast. The definitions and the words are English. A session run in another language shows English text to a participant who may not read English fluently, so it is flagged for review. A hidden tab lets the study, delay or response timers run without the participant, so a percentile is withheld after one. Another tab could also be used to look up a word.
No percentile. Scores and quality flags only.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Time per try (seconds) | 30 | 15 to 60 |
| Second try | Shows the first letter (standard) | Shows the first letter (standard), No hint |
Yearly plans can change settings within these limits. Free and pay-as-you-go studies use the standard settings.
Need a setting this test does not have?
Devices and languages
- Untimed test: runs on desktops, laptops, tablets and phones. Participant devices
- Instructions and screens: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese. Words and sentences: English.
- Available on: Every plan, including the free plan.
- No percentile. Scores and quality flags only. How norms work
- Recruiting online? See the setup guides for Prolific, Sona Systems, CloudResearch Connect and Qualtrics.
Cite and describe
Participants completed the Tip-of-the-Tongue Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Brown R, McNeill D, 1966; Burke DM and colleagues, 1991; Meyer AS, Bock K, 1992), with the standard settings (time per try (seconds): 30; second try: Shows the first letter). The main score was tip-of-the-tongue states (percent of the definitions shown answered On the tip of my tongue).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Brown, R., & McNeill, D. (1966). The "tip of the tongue" phenomenon. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 5(4), 325-337. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5371(66)80040-3Definitions of rare words, and states for the word against states for another word.
- Burke, D. M., MacKay, D. G., Worthley, J. S., & Wade, E. (1991). On the tip of the tongue: What causes word finding failures in young and older adults? Journal of Memory and Language, 30(5), 542-579. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-596X(91)90026-GWord-finding failures in young and older adults.
- Meyer, A. S., & Bock, K. (1992). The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: Blocking or partial activation? Memory & Cognition, 20(6), 715-726. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03202721Cues after a first try at a definition.
- Gollan, T. H., & Brown, A. S. (2006). From tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) data to theoretical implications in two steps: When more TOTs means better retrieval. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135(3), 462-483. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.135.3.462Why more states can mean better retrieval.
Source papers
- Brown R, McNeill D (1966). The "tip of the tongue" phenomenon. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 5(4):325-337.Paradigm source, Adults
- Burke DM, MacKay DG, Worthley JS, Wade E (1991). On the tip of the tongue: What causes word finding failures in young and older adults? Journal of Memory and Language, 30(5):542-579.Paradigm source, Young and older adults
- Meyer AS, Bock K (1992). The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: Blocking or partial activation? Memory and Cognition, 20(6):715-726.Paradigm source, Adults
- Gollan TH, Brown AS (2006). From tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) data to theoretical implications in two steps: When more TOTs means better retrieval. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135(3):462-483.Paradigm source, Adults
Questions
How long does the Tip-of-the-Tongue Task take?
About 8 to 12 minutes, as listed in the test library.
What device does a participant need?
Untimed test: runs on desktops, laptops, tablets and phones. The browser must be Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
What scores does it produce?
Tip-of-the-Tongue States, States Resolved, States for the Word, Words Named, I Don't Know, States, States Resolved, Count, States for the Word, Count, States for Another Word, Other Words, No Answers, Spelling Slips, Median Time to First Key, Paste Attempts, Definitions, Planned Definitions and Session in Another Language. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Tip-of-the-Tongue Task used in research?
45 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, up 36% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 313 of 495 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade D). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.22.0, counted 2 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Tip-of-the-Tongue Task have?
In the published research, 6 papers report its test-retest reliability and 0 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome (evidence grade C in the ConductCognition test census).
Does it report a percentile?
No. Scores and quality flags only.
Which settings can a researcher change?
Time per try (seconds) (15 to 60) and second try (Shows the first letter (standard), No hint). Settings can be changed on yearly plans; free and pay-as-you-go studies use the standard settings.
Which languages can participants use?
The instructions and screens are in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese. The words and sentences stay in English, so sessions in other languages are flagged for review. English is on every plan, and the other languages come with yearly plans. Have a native speaker read the machine-translated text before launch.
Is this a clinical test?
No. ConductCognition is for research use only. It runs, scores and exports the test; clinical interpretation is outside the platform.
Every test: the full test list.
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