Age-Related Differences in Spatial Position and Serial Position Effects in Short-Term Memory

Abstract

Abstract Four groups of 40 Ss, aged 4–5 years, 6–7 years, 12–13 years, and young adults, were trained on stimulus displays depicting four familiar, easily labelled objects, and tested for recall with a test stimulus showing one of the four objects in the training display and a dotted blank in the position to be tested. The effect of the spatial location of various components of the stimulus display was examined. Spatial position influenced the recall performance of the two younger groups, but not that of the older children or adults. Age-related differences in the utilization of spatial cues are discussed in terms of other relevant investigations. The effect of the temporal presentation order of the stimulus displays was also analyzed, and age-related differences revealed. Strong primacy effects were evident for the three older groups but not for the kindergarten children. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to current theories of verbal mediation.