Long-Term Recency Effects in Free Recall

Abstract

Although Tzeng (1973) and Bjork and Whitten (1974) have obtained positive recency effects in free recall using a procedure designed to eliminate any component of short-term storage, their procedures may not have truly cleared shortterm storage. In the present experiment, subjects were presented with four lists for free recall, each list composed of seven sets of noun triples. Presentation was either visual or auditory, and subjects counted backward by sevens before and after each item. Even with short-term storage thus cleared, recency effects were obtained equally for both modalities. No effect of serial position was found in a final test of free recall.