Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity in Recency Effects: From the Recall Process

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The purpose was to investigate the role of individual differences in working memory capacity in recency effects on free, forward, and backward recall tasks. In Exp. 1, correlations between scores on a listening-span test and recall accuracy of recent items were positive and significant under all conditions. This result suggested participants with large working memory capacity are likely to show a stronger recency effect. Predictive power of the listening-span test was still significant after the word-span score was partialled out. In Exp. 2, the predictive power of the listening-span test scores was not significant when a delay was introduced between study and recall phases. Analysis suggested participants with a larger working memory capacity, and particularly with higher cognitive function, were sensitive to the recollection process.