MEMORY PROCESSES AND SERIAL POSITION CURVE

TESTED THE HYPOTHESIS OF 2 STORAGE PROCESSES IN RECALL. SS WERE PRESENTED A SERIES OF 9 NUMBERS IN A PROBE-TYPE TASK AT DIFFERING RATES. AS EXPECTED, RATE (ITEM DURATION OR INTERITEM INTERVAL) AFFECTED THE PRIMACY AND MIDDLE PORTIONS OF THE CURVE AND NOT RECENCY. LOWER RATE PRESUMABLY FACILITATED LEARNING AND CONSEQUENTLY LONG-TERM MEMORY. ANOTHER EXPERIMENT VARIED RATE AND ALSO INTERPOLATED A 0-, 10-, OR 10-SEC FILLED DELAY BETWEEN PRESENTATION AND THE PROBE. DELAYS ATTENUATED RECENCY (A SHORT-TERM MEMORY EFFECT), FILLED MORE THAN UNFILLED. UNFILLED DELAY ELEVATED PRIMACY AND MIDDLE PORTIONS ONLY WHEN RATE WAS FAST. THESE RESULTS WERE VIEWED AS COMPATIBLE WITH THE 2 STORAGE HYPOTHESIS. STRONG EVIDENCE FOR THE ROLE OF REHEARSAL IN THIS TASK WAS FOUND. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.