Abstract
In two experiments, we examined the relationship between free recall and immediate serial recall (ISR), using a within-subjects (Experiment 1) and a between-subjects (Experiment 2) design. In both experiments, participants read aloud lists of eight words and were precued or postcued to respond using free recall or ISR. The serial position curves were U-shaped for free recall and showed extended primacy effects with little or no recency for ISR, and there was little or no difference between recall for the precued and the postcued conditions. Critically, analyses of the output order showed that although the participants started their recall from different list positions in the two tasks, the degree to which subsequent recall was serial in a forward order was strikingly similar. We argue that recalling in a serial forward order is a general characteristic of memory and that performance on ISR and free recall is underpinned by common memory mechanisms.
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Experiment 1 was conducted as part of the Ph.D. thesis of the first author (supported by ESRC Research Studentship R42200134058) under the supervision of the second author. Experiment 2 was conducted by the third author as part of ESRC Research Grant R000239674, awarded to the second author.
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Bhatarah, P., Ward, G. & Tan, L. Examining the relationship between free recall and immediate serial recall: The serial nature of recall and the effect of test expectancy. Memory & Cognition 36, 20–34 (2008). https://doi.org/10.3758/MC.36.1.20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/MC.36.1.20