Primacy and recency effects found using affective word lists.

Abstract

This experiment tested hypotheses linking the right cerebral regulation of hostility and affective verbal learning. First, patterns of recall for positive, negative, and neutral affective list learning among high- and low-hostile individuals were examined. It was expected that low-hostiles would recall more items from the positive list and that high-hostiles would recall more words from the negative affective list. Also, independent of groups, it was expected that there would be a primacy effect for negative words and a recency effect for positive words. Exploratory analyses examined the relation between hostility and primacy and recency effects on the positive and negative word lists. High- and low-hostile participants (n = 65) completed the positive list learning task, the negative list learning task, or the neutral list learning task. Data analyses revealed no significant difference between the high- and low-hostile groups on the different affective lists. However, results of the present investigation reliably demonstrated the predicted primacy and recency effects. There was a primacy effect for the negative affective list and a recency effect for the positive affective list. These findings are consistent with previous research investigating the acquisition pattern of affective verbal learning.