Chapter 82. The Serial Position Effect

Learning Objectives

encoding

getting information into memory so that it will be available later

long-term memory (LTM)

relatively permanent memory storage; can hold a large amount of information for years

memory

the process of remembering information that has been learned

primacy effect

in memory, the tendency to recall items that occur at the beginning of a list of items

recency effect

in memory, the tendency to recall items that occur at the end of a list of items

rehearsal

actively maintaining information in short-term memory, by mentally repeating it or by making meaningful connections to other information

retrieval

getting information out of memory storage so it can be used

serial position effect

in memory, the tendency to recall items at the beginning and the end of a list better than items in the middle

short-term memory (STM)

temporary memory storage; can hold about seven items for about twenty seconds

storage

holding information in memory over a period of time

The Serial Position Effect

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Learning Objectives:

Describe the serial position effect in retrieval of information from memory.

Contrast the primacy effect and the recency effect in memory recall.

Contrast the serial position effect on an immediate recall task and a delayed recall task.

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1. What do we do when we need to remember a phone number, a grocery list, directions to a house, or the names of people we meet at a party? When we try to memorize a list of items, we usually rehearse the items, repeating the list silently to maintain it in short-term memory (STM), or actively process the information in order to encode it for relatively permanent storage in our long-term memory (LTM). When we need the information, we retrieve it from LTM and move it back into STM so it can be used.

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Screen 3: The image is a line graph with one line. The X axis is labeled “Position in word list” and ranges from 0 to 20 in increments of 2. The Y axis is labeled “Percentage of words correctly recalled” and ranges from 0 to 100 in increments of 10. The line starts at around 70% for 0 position, gradually decreases to around 30% for positions 6 through 12, and then gradually increases up to 85% at position 20. The general shape of the curve is a U shape but with the ending taller than the beginning.

2. When the time comes to retrieve the information from memory, the serial position effect predicts that we will be more likely to recall the last and first items in the list. The middle items are the ones most vulnerable to forgetting.

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The image is a line graph with one line. The X axis is labeled “Position in list”. The Y axis is labeled, from top to bottom, as good recall and poor recall. The line starts between medium and good recall for the first items in the list. It gradually decreases to poor recall for the middle positions in the list. Then it increases drastically for the last items in the list to good recall. The recency effect is labeled where the recall is good for the last items. The general shape of the line is a U shape but with a slight tail at the end that is taller and flatter than the beginning.

3. The serial position effect is actually two separate effects. When you are introduced to a group of people, the last few names you hear will probably be remembered the best (the recency effect).

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The image is a line graph with one line. The X axis is labeled “Position in list”. The Y axis is labeled, from top to bottom, as good recall and poor recall. The line starts between medium and good recall for the first items in the list. It gradually decreases to poor recall for the middle positions in the list. Then it increases drastically for the last items in the list to good recall. The primacy effect is labeled where the recall is between medium and good for the first items. The general shape of the line is a U shape but with a slight tail at the end that is taller and flatter than the beginning.

4. The first few names are also highly likely to be remembered (the primacy effect).

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The image is a line graph with one line. The X axis is labeled “Position in list”. The Y axis is labeled, from top to bottom, as good recall and poor recall. The line starts between medium and good recall for the first items in the list. It gradually decreases to poor recall for the middle positions in the list. This is where there is a lower probability of recall. Then the line increases drastically for the last items in the list to good recall. The general shape of the line is a U shape but with a slight tail at the end that is taller and flatter than the beginning.

5. The names in the middle are the most likely to be forgotten.

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Screen 7: The image is a line graph with two lines. The X axis is labeled “Position in list”. The Y axis is labeled, from top to bottom, as good recall and poor recall. The first line represents immediate recall. This line starts between medium and good recall for the first items in the list, which represents the primacy effect. It gradually decreases to poor recall for the middle positions in the list. Then it increases drastically for the last items in the list to good recall, which is labeled as the recency effect. The general shape of the line is a U shape but with a slight tail at the end that is taller and flatter than the beginning. The second line represents delayed recall. This line starts between medium and poor recall for the first items in the list, which represents the primacy effect. It gradually decreases to poor recall for the middle positions in the list. The line remains at poor recall for the remaining items in the list.

6. When there is a time delay between meeting the people and recalling their names, the primacy effect remains, but the recency effect diminishes.

Practice 1: Demonstrating the Serial Position Effect

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Practice 1: Demonstrating the Serial Position Effect

Select the BEGIN MEMORY TEST button to begin the memory test.

Press "Display word list" to display the list of 15 words. Then move to the next screen.

When information is presented in a list, some items are easier to remember than others. Can you predict which items people are more likely to remember? In a moment, we will show you a list of 16 words, one at a time. Do not write them down. Rely entirely on your memory to recall as many as you possibly can.

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Select the FINISHED button when you have typed all the words you can remember.

Type all the words you can recall, in any order. Put one space between words. You must spell each word exactly as it was presented. When you have typed all the words you can remember, select the FINISHED button.

Select the NEXT button and move to Practice 2

You recalled	Number correct
word words words words	100

	Actual word list	Percent correct
First 4 words	words words words words	100%
Middle 8 words	words words words words words words words words	100%
Last 4 words	words words words words	100%
	Words in bold were correctly recalled

Practice 2: Explaining the Serial Position Effect

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Practice 2: Explaining the Serial Position Effect

Select each button to view an explanation of that portion of the serial position effect.

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When recalling a list of words, most people perform better at recalling the first and last words in the list than the words in the middle. The tendency to remember early words in the list is called the primacy effect. The tendency to remember the last few words in the list, especially when the recall test occurs immediately after viewing the list, is called the recency effect.

The overall tendency to best recall the last and first items in a list is known as the serial position effect.

The primacy effect occurs because people are able to rehearse the first few words several times before the number of list items overwhelms their short-term memory capacity. The rehearsal enables people to encode these words more fully than words arriving later in the list.

Once people get to the middle of the list, their short-term memory doesn’t have enough capacity to rehearse the initial words AND pay attention to the new words at the same time. The middle words don’t get much rehearsal, so they fade away quickly.

The recency effect occurs on an immediate recall task because the last few words are still in short-term memory when people are asked to recall the list. If you are like most people, one of the first words you typed came from the end of the list. On a delayed recall task, the recency effect disappears, because those words do not receive as much rehearsal as the first words.

Quiz 1

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Quiz 1

Match the terms to their descriptions by dragging each colored circle to the appropriate gray circle. When all the colored circles have been placed, select the CHECK ANSWER button.

Select the NEXT button and move to Quiz 2.

Perhaps you should go back to review the processes involved in storing and retrieving memories.

storage

recency effect

rehearsal

encoding

primacy effect

serial position effect

retrieval

tendency to recall best the items at the beginning and the end of a list

tendency to recall items that occur at the beginning of a list of items

tendency to recall items that occur at the end of a list of items

getting information into memory so that it will be available later

holding information in memory over a period of time

getting information out of memory storage so it can be used

actively maintaining information in short-term memory

Quiz 2

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Quiz 2

Drag each label to the gray area connected to the appropriate portion of the graph. When all the labels have been placed, select the CHECK ANSWER button.

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Select the NEXT button and move to the Conclusion.

Perhaps you should go back to review the serial position effect.

Recency effect

Immediate recall

Delayed recall

Primacy effect

Conclusion

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