Almost everybody has had the feeling of knowing the answer to a question, but not being quite able to say it. This is known as the "tip-of the-tongue" phenomenon and is a failure of __________.

A) retention
B) storage
C) retrieval
D) trace consolidation

The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon occurs when a person is unable to retrieve a piece of information that they know but cannot quite access at the moment. This failure to retrieve the information is a problem with retrieval, not retention or storage. Trace consolidation refers to the process by which memory traces become strengthened and is not related to the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon.