Effect of Serial Position Effect, von Restorff Effect, Delay, and Presentation Rate on Memory (Essay Sample)

Effect of Serial Position Effect, von Restorff Effect, Delay, and Presentation Rate on Memory Performance Name Institution Abstract Multi-store model of memory, an information processing linear model, holds that short term storage and long term storage are involve in memory performance. Information in the sensory store may be forgotten through decay. Information in either of these storages might be retained or lost through displacement, decay, or lack of retrieval cues from the environment. Free recall method was used to investigate STM/LTM distinction; serial position curve; delay; presentation rate; and von Restorff effect. First, words with sexual connections were remembered more than even those at the beginning or end of the list. Second, in the immediate recall, significantly more words were recalled than in the delayed recall. Third, fast presentation had significantly fewer words remembered than the slow presentation. Fourth, participants remembered significantly more last three words in the immediate recall than those in the delayed recall. These findings have contributed to the support of the multi-store model. Introduction Multi-store model of memory, proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin in 1968, is an information processing linear model (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968). The model suggests three main components or fixed stages through which information flows: sensory store, short term memory (STM), and long term memory (STM). Each of these stores has limitation related to their capacity and duration. In sensory store, uncoded external stimuli are briefly registered. Attention is critical for the information to be successfully passed to the short-term memory store. Information in the sensory store may be lost or forgotten through decay. In STM, information might be lost through displacement or decay. In the LTM, semantically encoded messages might last for as much as one’s lifetime. Nevertheless, such information might be forgotten through decay or lack of retrieval cues from the environment (Terry, 2015). Previous research has supported the multi-store model of memory (Eysenck & Keane, 2012; Glanzer & Cunitz, 1966; Murdock, 1962; Peterson & Peterson, 1959). A series of case studies involving HM, an amnesia patient, provided evidence for the STM and LTM (Eysenck & Keane, 2012). Peterson and Peterson (1959) introduced the concept of immediate versus delayed recall in memory. Peterson and Peterson (1959) found that students were least likely to remember the trigrams during longer interval delays. After 3 seconds, students could recall 80% of the trigrams, while they could only remember less than 10% of trigrams after 18 seconds. The findings implied that when the effect of rehearsal is controlled, the STM has limited duration (Peterson & Peterson, 1959). Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) used free recall to determine whether separate STM and LTM existed. Participants in the immediate group had the best memory for the first and the last words. Participants assigned to the delayed group best remembered words that began the list. Neither the immediate nor the delayed group had a good recall of the words placed in the middle of the list. This was an implication that serial position of the word might be associated with how better the word would be remembered. This observation, termed as serial position effect, suggests that the first few and the last few words in a list are more likely to remembered while those in the middle are more likely to be forgotten (Glanzer & Cunitz, 1966). The tendency to remember words at the beginning of the list is called the primacy effect while the tendency to remember words at the end of the list is called the recency effect. Consistent with Glanzer and Cunitz (1966), Murdock (1966) conducted a free recall experiment that reaffirmed the serial position effect. Murdock (1966) found that the probability to remember any word was determined by the position it occupied in the list. Words at the beginning of the list or at the end of the list were remembered more often, but those in the middle were often forgotten. Both Murdock (1966) and Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) concluded that words at the beginning of the list were remembered most because they had been stored in the LTM. The reason was that the participant had sufficient time to rehearse the acoustic code of the word. Words at the end of the list were remembered because they were stored in STM (Murdock, 1966). STM is limited in relation to the length of time it can hold information, but not in respect to capacity. The words in the middle of the list were lost through displacement because they had been in the STM for too long, but not long enough to be committed to the LTM. The capacity of LTM is limited (Glanzer & Cunitz, 1966). The words at the beginning of the list seem to have taken the available capacity, and as ne items (words in the middle of the list) continue to come in, they find the available space has been taken by earlier words. The findings of these studies implied that when people recall information as a result of primacy and recency effect, they are able to do so because the information is stored in the LTM and STM, respectively. When probability of recall is plotted against the serial position, a U-shaped graph is obtained, where the beginning peak is normally lower than the ending peak (Glanzer & Cunitz, 1966). Presentation rate also affects memory performance. The Primacy effect is improved when the presentation rate is slow and reduced when the presentation rate is faster (Glanzer & Cunitz, 1966). The reason is that the slower rate gives more time for rehearsal in STM. This gives the participant time to encode the information and commit it to the LTM. However, presentation rate does not seem to affect recall of the words at the end of a list. Recency effect is improved under immediate conditions and impaired under delay recall conditions (Glanzer & Cunitz, 1966). The reason for the impairment is that during the delay, distractive activities might occupy participants, thus preventing rehearsal and subsequent transfer of the information to the LTM (Glanzer & Cunitz, 1966; Terry, 2015). STM stores acoustically coded information for approximately 15-30 seconds; during which information is lost if there is no repetition or rehearsal. Another line of research proposes that the nature of information affects memory (Wiswede, Russeler, Hasselbach, & Munte, 2006). Participants are more likely to remember words that are distinct in at least one way from the others. Known as von Restorff effect, it can be created through different ways including emotional effect or meaningfulness. Total-time hypothesis suggests that more time is spent in rehearsing distinct words compared to other words (Cooper & Pantle, 1967). Another explanation is that participants might consider distinct words in a free experiment as belonging to a special category (Fabiani & Donchin, 1995; Hunt & Lamb, 2001). Emotions are known to influence memory performance considerably (Wishede et al., 2006). Highly arousing words such as those with sexual connections may be better recalled than less arousing words (Wishede et al., 2006). The experiments described (Glanzer & Cunitz, 1966; Murdock, 1962), relied on free recall method, which seems to be favorite among memory researchers, to study serial position effect. Free-recall involves presenting participants with a series of words, which they try to recall. The participant is allowed to remember the words in any order they like, meaning that the words do not have to be recalled in the order they are given. This study used free recall to investigate the distinction between STM and LTM, serial position curve, effects if delay and presentation rate on memory performance, as well as the effect of von Resorff effect on memory. In this light, the following hypotheses were formulated: There will be a statistically significant difference in the number of words recalled between immediate and delayed recall conditions. Sexual words (words in serial position 7) will be significantly remembered more than the other words in the middle of the list. There will be a statistically significant difference in the number of words remembered between slow and fast presentations. There will be a statistically significant difference in the recall for the last three items between immediate and delayed conditions. Method Design The study was an experimental study. The study was conducted as a free recall experiment. The dependent variable in the study was number of words recalled. There were three independent variables, including recall (immediate-delayed), presentation rate (slow-fast), and serial position (position in the word list). Participants and Materials Participants in this study were 30 psychology students representing both sexes. The experiment was accomplished through the use of 128 words (Appendix A). Sixty-four words were for the immediate condition while the other 64 were for the delayed condition. Each of these two conditions was categorized into slow and fast categories. There were 16 serial positions, with the 7th serial position being occupied by words with huge emotional significance owing to their sexual connotations. Procedure Participants were presented with lists of words. The words were presented at different rates and intervals. In the slow presentation rate, one word was presented for every 4 seconds while in the fast presentation, one word presented for every one second. For immediate condition, participants were asked to recall the words immediately after they were presented. In the delayed condition, participants were given a longer recall period before they were asked to recall the words. During recall, participants wrote down as many words as they could remember, in any order. They were free to write the words they remembered in any order they wished. Ethics There were no ethical concer...