Short-term retention of temporal and spatial order

Abstract

Retention of temporal and spatial order information were compared in a short-term recall situation where only order information was to be learned. Concave-upward bow-shaped serial position functions were found for temporal but not spatial positions, whether subjects recalled the temporal or the spatial order of the items. Retention of temporal order was superior to retention of spatial order. However, spatial and temporal order recall should be further compared with a design which eliminates an asymmetry present in this and previous studies.