Memory - Primacy & Recency Effects

Question 1

What is the primacy effect?

Answer 1

Refers to what happens first
Words that appear first on a list are more likely to be recalled than words in the middle
This is because they’ve been rehearsed well by the time they’re recalled & are LTM

Question 2

What is the recency effect?

Answer 2

Refers to what’s happened most recently
The words that are towards the end of a list will have been heard most recently & will still be in the STM
Recall for these will be the best

Question 3

What is the serial position effect?

Answer 3

Described the tendency of people to recall the first and last words in a list of words best
The position of a word in a list influences the likelihood of it being recalled

Question 4

What was the aim of Murdock’s study?

Answer 4

To see if memory of words was affected by the number of words a person had to remember

Question 5

What was the method of Murdock’s study?

Answer 5

• randomly selected words from the 4000 most common words in English
• 103 students on a psychology course took part & tested in groups
• listened to 20 word lists each containing different words (10-40 words)
• after each list, had to recall words

Question 6

What were the results of Murdock’s study?

Answer 6

The likelihood of recall was related to position of the word in the list.
Higher recall for first few words (primacy effect)
Highest recall for last few words (recency effect)

Question 7

What was the conclusion of Murdock’s study?

Answer 7

Results demonstrate serial position effect
Recency effects are strongest
Study illustrates actions of STM & LTM as described by MSM

Question 8

Strength of Murdock’s study

Answer 8

• Conducted in very controlled conditions
• Can trust results
• IV = position of words in list
• DV = probability it was recalled
• Controlled familiarity & speed read at
• No EVs affected DV so results are trustworthy

Question 9

Weakness of Murdock’s study

Answer 9

• All participants were similar age & study psychology
• May lead to investigator effects (try to work out aim or impress psychologist)
• Results may be different than if they were from non-psychologists