Recency Effects In Memory Research Articles

Effect of distributional shape on learning a target sound

Vowel pronunciations (measured in Hz) form distributions that vary from normally distributed to quite skewed. Labov (2001) noted that vowels undergoing change tend to be skewed, while stable ones are not. We ask if the different distributions are causally related to change. We exposed participants (n = 238) to a positively skewed, negatively skewed, or normal distribution of pure tones varying in pitch (to mimic how vowels vary in quality). Participants were told they were listening to notes played by amateur musicians who’d been aiming for the same note. In each trial, participants listened to 20 tones then played the note they thought was the target. Output pitches were compared to the input. The question was whether learners would play a tone corresponding to the mean or the mode of the set or would instead “shift” the note. In the two conditions analyzed so far (normal and positively skewed), participants output pitches that were slightly higher than the mean of the input set, indicating shift in both conditions; however, the difference between conditions is not significant. There is also an effect of the final note in the set, evoking the well-established recency effect in memory. Analysis of the third condition is ongoing.

Rats do show primacy and recency effects in memory for lists of spatial locations: A reply to Gaffan

It has been demonstrated that rats display both primacy and recency effects in list-learning experiments for both item- and order-recognition memory for spatial location information. Contrary to a suggestion made by Gaffan (1992) that previous demonstrations of primacy effects in rats are not valid due to statistical and methodological problems, we show that (1) it is not likely that our results are due to experimenter bias and/or nonindependence of trials, (2) primacy and recency effects are obtained whether or not one uses a training criterion, and (3) when many of the published reports from our laboratory are combined, the number of subjects and trials are sufficient to evaluate the validity of primacy and recency effects in list-learning experiments.

Recency effects in memory, as a function of modality of intervening events

Word lists of fifteen items were presented to eye or to ear, with recall either immediately, or after a visual task, or after an auditory one. Instructions were to recall the last items first. An intervening task using the same modality greatly reduced recall of the last items presented; whereas a visual task did not do so for acoustically presented items. An auditory task reduced visual memory. These results suggest a specific auditory memory for recent events, over-written by subsequent auditory events.