Glanzer and Cunitz (1966)

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

Does position of words influence recall, and are there two types of storage?

Question 2

Procedure

Answer 2

Participants were presented with a list of words and were asked to recall them using free recall. In condition 1, half the participants were asked to recall the words they remembered immediately. In condition 2, the other half of the participants were given a 30-second distraction task and then asked to recall the words they remembered.

Question 3

Results

Answer 3

The 30-second distraction task destroys the recency effect (STM) of memory recall, but not the primary effect (LTM). Higher probability participants will remember the first and last words of the list.

Question 4

Findings

Answer 4

The position of the words does affect memory recall because of the recency and primary effects of the memory. The participants are more likely to remember the words they rehearsed the most (primary effect LTM), which are the first words and the words they heard most recently (recency effect STM), which are the last words.