The Primacy and Recency Effects in Successive Single-Trial Immediate Free Recall

Bibliographic Data

ID10124980
AuthorsI-Ning Huang (University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, corresponding author), Jerry Tomasini (University of Wisconsin–Whitewater), Larry D Nikl (University of Wisconsin–Whitewater), Larry Nikl
Year1977
Volume97
Issue2
Pages157-165
Publication date1977-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of General Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-1309 • E-ISSN: 1940-0888
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00221309.1977.9920834
PMID28136234
OpenAlexW1978171073
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited6

The present study of 82 male and female college students re-examined the primacy and recency effects in successive single-trial immediate free recall of lists of unrelated English words. With a trial-by-trial analysis of the serial position curve (SPC), it showed the shape of SPC was not invariant. The primacy effect was greater than the recency effect on the very first recall, and the relationship of these two effects immediately reversed and remained so thereafter. Analysis of the correlation between the presentation and recall order of the items recalled over successive recalls revealed an additional phenomenon-the rapid development of a recall strategy. The development of strategy concurred closely with reversal of the primacy and recency effects. An interlist proactive interference interpretation and a recall strategy interpretation have been suggested to account for the transitory change of the shape of the SPC in free recall

Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Free recall · Interference theory · Recall · Recall test · Serial position effect · Working memory · Educational Strategies and Epistemologies · Memory Processes and Influences · Neuroscience · Psychology · Social Psychology · Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes

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