TOT in Amnesiac Patients and Older Subjects.

I think in general I felt like there was a large amount of theory behind what might be the cause of this experience, but no real way to measure if recall is based on blockers or incomplete activation or any other theory. All of the theories presented in Schwartz's paper seem perfectly viable to me, so it feels like there is a definite lack of evidence to prove any of the theories. To me, a combination of absence of the correct cues and the presence of blockers seems logical. I feel like the general amount of data presented supports multiple theories, and are therefore inconclusive to support any one.

I experienced a large amount of frustration with Schwartz because he presents so many different viewpoints, but I felt no real backing for any of them. In general, I just want more data about the process that leads to TOT, and the resolution of the state. I think that it's relatively impossible to give more evidence for any theory with the technology and design of current experiments, but the article seemed more to define theories than to give real insight into the memory retrieval process.

One thing that intrigued me was the activation of parts of the right hemisphere normally associated with episodic memory in the retrieval of information to alleviate the TOT state. Of all of the arguments presented, the importance of episodic memory in determining the correct word makes the most sense. To recall, most people use episodic cues (such as what the actor looked like in the movie) in order to access the semantic memory. In earlier readings, we discussed a person's ability to use their semantic memory when their episodic memory is damaged. I now wonder how this lack of episodic memory affects the recall of a word in the TOT state. Furthermore, I wonder if a TOT state actually exists for amnesia patients, when they have a poor episodic memory. Very little is mentioned about the study of amnesiacs and the TOT state. I think the prevalence of this state would either decrease or increase depending on the damage and am interested to see in which cases the TOT state even still existed. The only issue I can find with studying amnesiacs and TOT is the possibility of too many variables as a result of their brain damage. Unless a full assessment of their general cognitive abilities is know, it may be difficult to differentiate between the two states. (TOT and general amnesia.)

Very few studies have been done focusing the correlation between age and the number of TOT states produced. Of those, there is a definite trend supporting that younger adults experience less of this phenomenon than do the elderly. However, I felt like it was generally assumed that this increase in TOT state was a direct result of memory deterioration, and not the information the individual has been exposed to. If the theory of blocking is correct, then wouldn't a larger amount of TOT states possibly be because of the greater amount of information that comes to mind when given a single cue? With age, we acquire more memory and more cues. Most of which, overlap in some fashion. Is it really because older people have a poorer memory, or because they have more information stored in their head and therefore harder to for them to find the correct word because there is too much interference. It's strange to me that while this observation between age and the occurences of the TOT state, there is no real investigation into why. I felt like there was just an assumption made that because they are older, their memory has deteriorated. However, the studies Schwartz refers to in his article only show that there is a difference between age groups, but very little evidence as to why.