突然袭来的“舌尖现象”，
是我的记忆力下降了吗？
TOT
你是否有过这样的情况：怎么也想不起某个人的名字，即便他的模样已经清晰地浮现在脑海中，只要朋友稍加提醒，你马上就能记起来他叫什么。虽然这种情况通常发生在名字上，但其实对任何单词都是一样的。这并不是说你记不住这个概念，而是你找不到它对应的“语言标签”。
Have you ever had trouble thinking of someone’s name? Perhaps you can even see the face of the person in your mind’s eye, and you would immediately recognise the name if a friend suggested it to you. Although this happens frequently with names, it’s the same for any word. It’s not that you can’t remember the concept but that you can’t find the language label for it.
“找词困难”在困扰中老年人的认知性问题中很典型的。即使是最熟悉的单词或名称，人们也时不时会忘记。研究人员发现，最容易造成麻烦的词汇是专有名词和物品的名称。这种检索能力的丧失可能持续几秒钟、几分钟甚至几小时，令人烦躁。事实上，当被问及衰老的烦恼时，老年人经常提到找词的问题。
Word-finding problems are an almost stereotypical aspect of the cognitive issues that plague middle-aged and older adults. These failures occur without warning for even the most familiar words and names a person knows. The most troublesome words, researchers have found, are proper nouns and the names of objects. This retrieval inability can last anywhere from a split second to minutes or even hours, and they can be exasperating. In fact, older adults frequently mention word-finding problems when asked about the annoyances of ageing.
在这种情况下，一个人确定知道她想要表达的词是什么，这个词似乎已经到了嘴边，但不知道为什么，她就是说不出来，至少当时不行。事实上，心理学家把这种现象称为“舌尖现象”。但这种现象是否是记忆力下降的前兆呢？
In such cases, a person is certain she knows the word she is searching for. It may seem as if the awol term is just on the tip of her tongue, but for some reason she can’t produce it, at least at that moment. In fact, psychologists refer to such experiences as tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states. But are they really the harbingers of befuddlement that they appear to be?
“日志调查法”与实验诱导
带你深入剖析“舌尖现象”
INVESTIGATING
对于想要了解这种现象如何以及怎样发生的心理学家们来说，研究“舌尖现象”有一定的挑战性。就像研究超新星等短暂现象的天文学家一样，研究人员知道“舌尖现象”最终一定会发生，但无从知道确切时间。这种不确定性导致了两种截然不同的研究“舌尖现象”的方法:一是观测自然状态下“舌尖现象”的发生，二是在实验室中诱导该现象的发生。
Studying TOT presents certain challenges to psychologists who want to understand how and why such states occur. Much like astronomers who study ephemeral phenomena like supernovas, researchers know that TOT states will eventually happen, but not exactly when. This uncertainty has led to two distinctly different ways of investigating TOTs: via naturalistic methods and by experimentally inducing word-finding failures in laboratory settings.
研究人员试图从两个方面量化实验结果：“舌尖现象”发生的频率，及其消退的可能性——所谓“消退”是指在没有外部帮助（比如查阅字典或者朋友提醒）的情况下，研究对象自然回想起他们先前苦苦搜寻的那个词。
Researchers studying word finding and TOT have tried to quantify two aspects in particular: how often these states occur and the likelihood that they are resolved – that is, the sought-after word is spontaneously recalled by the person without external assistance (such as looking the word up or having a friend offer the solution).
为了评估“舌尖现象”发生的频率以及消退的概率，研究人员开展了“日志调查”，要求研究对象每次经历“舌尖现象”时都记录下来。研究结果表明，大学生每周会经历一到两次“舌尖现象”，而对于60多岁和70多岁的人来说，频率会略高一些。80多岁的研究对象发生该现象的概率则几乎是大学生的两倍。“日志调查”同时表明，“舌尖现象”可能很快便会自行消退——其典型成功率超过90%。
Diary studies, in which people write down every time they experience a TOT state, allow researchers to assess both frequency and resolution rates. The results suggest that college students experience about one to two TOT states a week, while for people in their 60s and early 70s, the rate is slightly higher. Research participants in their 80s, however, experience TOT states at a rate almost twice as high as college students. Diary studies have shown that TOT episodes are likely to be resolved – the typical success rate in such studies is more than 90%.
然而，在解读这些自然状态下收集到的数据时，我们仍然需要保持谨慎。因为一种可能性是，老年人更有可能记录下这样的事例，因为他们更关心自己记忆力是否衰退。他们也许会更认真地记录下数据，因为他们的生活没有年轻人那么忙碌。还有一种可能是，参与者更倾向于记录已消退的“舌尖现象”，而不是仍然困扰着他们的。
We need to be cautious, however, when interpreting such naturalistic data. It may be the case that older adults, who are more concerned about their memory lapses, will be more likely to record such instances. They may be more conscientious about writing them down, perhaps because their lives are less hectic than those of younger participants. It may also be the case that participants are simply more likely to record resolved TOT states than episodes that are not resolved.
另一种研究方法是实验性地诱导“舌尖现象”的发生。心理学家Roger Brown和David McNeill在哈佛大学工作时发明了这种方法。他们发现，简单地给参与者一些不常见的英语单词的字典定义，往往会导致其找词失败。他们给出了一个例子：“一种用于测量角距离的导航仪器，特别是测量海上太阳、月亮和星星的高度。”
The alternative method for studying word finding is to experimentally induce a TOT state. A method for doing this was developed by psychologists Roger Brown and David McNeill when they were both at Harvard University. They found that simply giving participants dictionary definitions of uncommon English words would often trigger a word-finding failure. An example from their study was: “A navigational instrument used in measuring angular distances, especially the altitude of the Sun, Moon, and stars at sea.”
（如果这个例子给你造成了“舌尖现象”，那么你正在搜寻的单词是“六分仪”。）
(If this example has caused a TOT state for you, then the word you are searching for is “sextant”.)
在这项研究中，参与者通常能够毫不费力地说出正确的单词。然而，在某些情况下，参与者不知道这个定义描述的是什么词。如果他们发现自己处于“舌尖现象”之中，Brown和McNeill会问他们更多的问题。研究人员发现，在这种状态下，即便研究对象无法完全解释清楚这个萦绕在脑海中的单词，他们仍能够说出关于这个单词的部分信息。
In this study, the participants were often able to provide the desired word without difficulty. On other occasions, the subjects had no idea what word the definition was describing. However, if they found themselves in a TOT state, Brown and McNeill asked them additional questions. The researchers discovered that, while in such a state, people can report partial information about the sought-after word, even as the word itself eludes their grasp.
例如，当参与者猜测这个单词有多少个音节或它的首字母可能是什么时，他们的表现远远高于随机概率。此外，即便是猜错了，人们通常也能给出意思相近的词。比如参与者没能想到“六分仪”，但他们会给出“星盘”、“指南针”等答案。然而有些时候，参与者只能给出发音相近的词，比如“sextet”或者“sexton”，这些答案只是听起来像“六分仪（sextant）”，但在含义上却大相径庭，事实上前者指“六重奏乐队”，后者则指“教堂司事”。
For example, the participants performed far above chance when asked to guess how many syllables the word had, or what its initial letter might be. And not surprisingly, when people made errors, they often produced words that had a similar meaning. When given the definition for “sextant”, the participants sometimes responded with “astrolabe” or “compass”. However, they also sometimes offered up words that only sounded like the intended term. The definition for “sextant” also led to responses of “sextet” and “sexton”.
如果我们假设那些挥舞着六分仪的水手既不是六重奏乐队的成员，也不是教堂里的掘墓人，那么这些错误恰恰说明了我们的记忆是如何排列对于这些单词的认知的。然而研究表明，即使是部分信息——比如单词的首字母——对于老年人来说仍然是很难想起来的。
If we assume that sailors wielding their sextants are neither members of six-person musical groups nor gravediggers, then these errors suggest something important about how our knowledge of words is arranged in memory. Studies with older adults, however, suggest that partial information – such as the initial letter of the word – is less available for them.
困扰？没必要！
“舌尖现象”焉知非福？
VALUABLE
正如认知老化中的许多问题一样，“舌尖现象”也有多种解读，就像一个半空的杯子也可以视为一个半满的杯子一样。一方面，“找词困难”可以视为长期记忆中“概念”与“词语”之间联系减弱的证据。但“找词困难”的增加也有可能反映了一些不同的问题。
As with many issues in cognitive aging, we can view the increase in TOT states as a glass half empty or half full. On the one hand, these retrieval failures can be taken as evidence of weakening connections between the meanings of concepts and the words that denote them in long-term memory. It’s also possible that the increase in word-finding problems with age reflects something very different.
东南印第安纳大学的心理学家Donna Dahlgren认为，关键问题不是年龄增长，而是知识储备。如果老年人在长期记忆中储存了更多的信息，那么他们将更加容易经历“舌尖现象”。
Psychologist Donna Dahlgren at Indiana University Southeast has argued that the key issue is not one of agebut one of knowledge. If older adults typically have more information in long-term memory, then as a consequence they will experience more TOT states.
“舌尖现象”也有可能派上用场——它向老年人传递了一个信号：即便一时想不起来，但这个词自己肯定是知道的。怀有这种认知益处颇多，因为这表明只要努力尝试，最终肯定能成功想起来自己在脑海中苦苦搜寻的词。
It’s also possible that TOT states are useful – they can serve as a signal to the older adult that the sought-for word is known, even if not currently accessible. Such metacognitive information is beneficial because it signals that spending more time trying to resolve the word-finding failure may ultimately lead to success.
从这个角度看，“舌尖现象”可能不是“找词失败”，而是有价值的信息来源。如果你仍然因“舌尖现象”而困扰，不妨试试多运动。研究表明，保持良好的有氧健身会减少此类现象的发生。
Viewed this way, TOT states might represent not retrieval failures but valuable sources of information. If you are still worried about the number of TOT states that you experience, research suggests you might have fewer such episodes if you maintain your aerobic fitness.
所以，下次当你想不出一个词的时候，不如试着一边散步一边回想。
So, the next time you have trouble thinking of a word, you can also try looking for it around the block.
编译 | 王兆隆 高语阳 储志阳
排版 | 王兆隆
原文链接：
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201125-on-the-tip-of-your-tongue-is-it-a-sign-of-a-bad-memory