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Databases
- World Book Encyclopedia This link opens in a new window
Online version of the complete reference work along with dictionary, atlas, links, magazines, historical documents, audio, video, images, and 3D photograph
- Britannica Schools This link opens in a new window
Britannica School covers the core subject areas of English, Maths, Science and History. Interactive lessons, activities, games, stories, worksheets, manipulatives, study guides and research tools.
Key Terms
- EbbinghausHermann. (ˈhɛrman). 1850–1909, German experimental psychologist who undertook the first systematic and large-scale studies of memory and devised tests using nonsense syllables
- the serial position effectoccurs when dealing with a list or length of time. A primacy (start of the line) and recency (end of the line) effect occurs, where more attention is paid on both. The middle is generally not well remembered.
- independent variableThe variable that is changed on purpose by the experimenter.
- dependent variableResults that are measured.
- primacy effectlies in the long-term memory. Reason being because the items are continually rehearsed as the list moves along. Affected by proactive interference.
- recency effectlies in the Short-Term memory. This is because the items are still in mind when being presented with them. Affect by retroactive interference.
- von Restorff effecta taboo word in a list of words stands out amongst the rest. It makes the immediate previous and following word unavailable due to shock (usually)Einstein's theory of relativity.
- QuizletQuiz yourself on key terms on the serial position effect.
Introduction
Welcome to the short-term memory: serial position effect research guide. This guide has been developed to help you to investigate short-term memory through the serial position effect.
The serial position effect is the psychological theory that an individual recalls information differently depending on the order the information is presented. It is characterised by greater recall from the first and last portions of a list than from the middle portions. (study.com, 2015)
APA Experiment Format
- American Psychology Association. (2015). The basics of APA style. Retrieved from http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspxThis tutorial is designed for those who have no previous knowledge of APA Style®. It shows users how to structure and format their work, recommends ways to reduce bias in language, identifies how to avoid charges of plagiarism, shows how to cite references in text, and provides selected reference examples.
- McLeod, S. A. (2007). Psychology research methods. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/research-methods.htmlThis site explores Psychology Research Methods: Lab experiment, field experiment, case study, correlation, interviews, questionnaires and observations.
- Cherry, K. (2015). How to conduct a psychology experiment. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/researchmethods/ss/conducting-psychology-experiments.htm#step1Conducting your first psychology experiment can be a long, complicated, and intimidating process. It can be especially confusing if you are not quite sure where to begin or which steps to take. Like other sciences, psychology utilizes the scientific method and bases conclusions upon empirical evidence.
The Serial Position Effect
- Study.com. (2015). Recency Effect in Psychology: definition and example. Retrieved from http://study.com/academy/lesson/recency-effect-in-psychology-definition-example-quiz.htmlThe human brain is weir, and unless you have an eidetic memory, you probably don't remember everything you read. You tend to remember the first part, some random stuff in the middle, and the end. What is that all about?
- Study.com. (2015). Understanding the serial position effect in public speaking. Retrieved from http://study.com/academy/lesson/serial-position-effect-theories-of-primacy-and-regency.htmlThe serial position effect has a major impact on how you memorize your speech and other pieces of information. In this lesson, you will learn some tips and tricks to memorizing information and how to understand the serial position effect.
- Heffner, C. (n.d.). Memory and forgetting. Retrieved from http://allpsych.com/psychology101/memory/#.ViOon52qqkoHuman memory, like memory in a computer, allows us to store information for later use. In order to do this, however, both the computer and we need to master three processes involved in memory. The first is called encoding; the process we use to transform information so that it can be stores. For a computer this means transferring data into 1’s and 0’s. For us, it means transforming the data into a meaningful form such as an association with an existing memory, an image, or a sound.
- Alleydog. (n.d.). Serial position effect. Retrieved from http://www.alleydog.com/topics/social-psychology.php#.VZSuxBOqqkoThis term is a memory-related term and refers to the tendency to recall information that is presented first and last (like in a list) better than information presented in the middle.
- Long, J. (2016). Serial Position Function. Retrieved from The Gale Encyclopedia of PsychologyWhen individuals attempt to recall a set of stimuli that exceeds about seven items, there is a high likelihood that they will forget some of them. The generally accepted limit to memory for material that is not rehearsed is referred to as “the magic number seven,” because people typically can remember about seven items, plus or minus two items.
- Cherry, K. (2015). Forgetting. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/p/forgetting.htmWhy do we forget? From forgetting where you left your keys to forgetting to return a phone call, memory failures are an almost daily occurrence. Forgetting is so common that you probably rely on numerous methods to help you remember important information such as jotting down notes in a daily planner or scheduling important events on your phone's calendar.
Psychology Journals
- Krueger, L. E., & Salthouse, T. A. (2011). Influence of cognitive abilities and age on word recall performance across trials and list segments. American Journal of Psychology. Fall 2011 v124 i3 p291(10).The influence of cognitive abilities and age on multitrial word recall performance was examined for different list segments (i.e., first, middle, and last) and across trials by having 2,497 participants ages 18-98 complete a multitrial word list test along with reference cognitive ability tests.
- Jones, A. C. (2013). Why do we misspell the middle of words? Orthographic texture and the serial position effect. Journal of experimental psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition. Sept 2013 v39 i5 p1572-1584.In the current set of studies, a new hypothesis regarding the cause of the commonly observed U-shaped serial position effect (SPE) in spelling is introduced and tested. Instead of greater competition during output or weaker positional representation for word-medial letters, commonly accepted explanations for the cause of the SPE, the orthographic texture hypothesis suggests that variations in the activation strength of individual letters are responsible for the variations typically observed in spelling accuracy as a function of letter position.
- Jones, T. K. (2013). Serial-position effects for items and relations in short-term memory. Memory, 21(3), 347-365.Two experiments used immediate probed recall of words to investigate serial-position effects. Primacy and recency effects over input position were found for both item memory and relation memory.
- Howieson, D. K. (2011). Serial position effects in mild cognitive impairment. Journal Of Clinical & Experimental Neuropsychology, 33(3), 292-299.Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is often associated with the preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Special scoring of word-list recall data for serial position has been suggested to improve discrimination of normal aging from dementia.We examined serial position effects in word-list recall for MCI participants compared to Alzheimer patients and controls. Individuals with MCI, like Alzheimer patients, had a diminished primacy effect in recalling words from a list
- Black, S. A. (2008). The Effects of Anxiety on Affective Learning and Serial Position Recall. International Journal Of Neuroscience, 118(9), 1269-1285.Sixty-five college-aged adults participated in a study that examined the effects of trait and state anxiety on learning positive and negative emotional words from the Affective Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AAVL).
- Davidoff, J., Beaton, A., Done, D., & Booth, H. (1982). Information extraction from brief verbal displays: Half-field and serial position effects for children, normal and illiterate adults. British Journal Of Psychology, 73(1), 29.Presents adults learning to read for the first time and two groups of control subjects matched for reading age or chronological age. Three types of vertically oriented letter string in theleft or right visual field; Effects of age or deprivation from textual experience on differential hemispheric processing; Theoretical significance to psychology.
Search Strategies
Add keywords related to the topic; e.g. psychology, memory, serial position effect.
Use AND/OR/NOT between keywords; e.g. ebbinghaus and memory not alzheimer.
Use quotations around terms for exact searches e.g. “cognitive psychology” and “serial position effect”
Use a wildcard* for word variants e.g. non*verbal = non verbal, non-verbal and nonverbal.
Use wildcard for words that can be spelt differently e.g. colo*r = color and colour
Ethics
- APS. (n.d.) Ethics. Retrieved from http://www.psychology.org.au/about/ethics/The Australian Psychological Society's Code of Ethics was developed to safeguard the welfare of consumers of psychological services and the integrity of the profession.