Why You Can’t Think of the Word That’s on the Tip of Your Tongue | Hacker News Reader

Why You Can’t Think of the Word That’s on the Tip of Your Tongue

nytimes.com

12 pointsezhil9 comments

Answer

> these moments are simply part of the way we communicate, and they’re more or less universal

Hard-hitting science right there. This is literally as far as the article goes.

The deeper answer was on the tip of their tongue, but they just couldn't come up with it for the article.

Yes I was looking for something more insightful, since this seems to inflict me quite often. I'd like to know what the underlying issue surrounding it might be. I was disappointed to find out this article, like a lot of upvoted NYT articles linked here lately, was just a bunch of fluff.

Then just flag it and save us all the time!

As to the question posed, there are two competing hypotheses. Blocking, where the correct answer is prematurely discounted as false, and partial activation. Introduction to this paper has an overview:

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.3758%2FBF03202721.p...

In reality this is a consequence of how much effort we make in remembering something.

It's well known that making lasting memories relies on multiple associations that all lead to that memory.

So when you learn someone's name for the first time, say it a few times, and think about something factually unique about the person, make those associations with things that come to mind. (ex: Benjamin, Ben, Big Ben, short Ben with a hat & side burns.)

The more you make, the better you'll be at remembering people's names and the easier it will get.

"It will come back to me soon." Instead of "I can't remember."

Help with this scenario, I use this inner dialogue as a generative command, I say it gently and with trust in the innate wisdom of my consciousness and sure enough within a minute or two this command runs in the background and then what I'm looking for will become present in my mind. (I learnt this from The Silva Method). I'm curious about this kind of inner pattern, what other generative inner commands and questions work for you?

This article doesn't answer the question on its title.

I thought of the word(s) I was trying to think of: "presque vu" ;)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com