“Tip-of-the-tongue” study. Trying to think of a word you know, but can’t instantly retrieve, is called the

“tip-of-the-tongue” phenomenon. Psychology and Aging

(Sept. 2001) published a study of this phenomenon in senior citizens. The researchers compared 40 people between 60 and 72 years of age with 40 between 73 and 83 years of age. When primed with the initial syllable of a missing word (e.g., seeing the word include to help recall the word incisor), the younger seniors had a higher recall rate. Suppose 31 of the 40 seniors in the younger group could recall the word when primed with the initial syllable, while only 22 of the 40 seniors could recall the word.

Compare the recall rates of the two groups, using a = .05.

Does one group of elderly people have a significantly higher recall rate than the other?