Slips of the Tongue and Lexical Storage

Analysis of 234 slips collected by the authors and 68 presented by Freud revealed a serial position effect for letter matches similar to that found by Brown and McNeill, supporting the generality of their account.

Abstract

Brown and McNeill's (1966) explanation of the " tip of the tongue " phenomenon relied on a concept of " faint entries " in the lexicon. Such an account may hold only for low frequency items. Slips of the tongue, however, can be obtained at all frequency levels. Analysis of 234 slips collected by the authors and 68 presented by Freud revealed a serial position effect for letter matches similar to that found by Brown and McNeill, supporting the generality of their account. Implications for theoretical accounts of slips are discussed.