Serial Positon affect

Question 1

Serial Positon affect

Answer 1

Serial Position Effect
A pattern of recall for list items where immediate recall is best for items at the end or beginning of the list when compared to items in the middle of the list.

Question 2

Primacy effect

Answer 2

Primacy effect: superior recall for items at the beginning of a list (in immediate recall) due to entering an ‘empty’ STM and having full attention, and having enough time to be rehearsed and transferred to LTM.

Question 3

Recency effect

Answer 3

Recency effect: superior recall for items at the end of a list (in immediate recall) due to still being in the STM in maintenance rehearsal. (Recency effect will not occur if there is a delay over 30s)

Question 4

demonstrates there are separate STM and LTM systems

Answer 4

• Primacy effect indicates effective transfer into LTM.
• Recency effect indicates items still in STM. The fact that the recency effect only occurs for immediate recall is the strongest evidence for STM register.
• The fact that recency effect does not occur if there is delayed recall (but primacy effect does occur) supports the idea that STM and LTM are separate systems.