Three experiments examined the notion that children's primacy and recency in the probe-type pictorial memory task are related to the spatial distinctiveness of the "leftmost" and "rightmost" items presented. Data suggest that preschoolers and older children alike are able to code temporal order along with the corresponding…

The spatial and temporal components of a serial position recall task were experimentally manipulated in a study using kindergarten, first grade, and second grade children to determine the factors involved in the primacy effect. (BRT)

The authors argue that imitation is a flexible and adaptive learning mechanism in that children do not always reproduce all of the details they can from a demonstration. Instead, they vary their replications depending on their interpretation of the situation. Specifically, the authors propose that when children do not understand the overall reason…

In three experiments using a single-trial, free-recall procedure, subjects were sometimes presented a forget cue during a list, meaning that they were not responsible for recalling any of the words which preceded it, only those which followed it. Since the primacy effect over the functional beginning of such lists was not diminished, the proactive…

Comments on some methodological problems involved in determining the relationship between initial output order and subsequent recall, particularly in the light of the results reported by Morris (AA 527 380). (Author/RK)

Answers the criticism of John Gardiner and Peter Herriot (AA 527 381) and while agreeing with their comments on the misleading influence of Vincentized data, author rejects their specific criticisms. (RK)

An activity that teaches psychology students about the primacy effect that occurs when individuals make judgments about the ability of other people is described. The primacy effect is the tendency for an observer's judgment to be influenced more strongly by early information about a person than by information that comes later. (Author/RM)

Results of two experiments suggested (1) that spatial cues serve as functional stimuli in the standard probe-type task, and (2) that the contextual uniqueness of the first item is probably responsible for the occurrence of primacy in young children. (Author/JMB)

Five experiments were conducted in an attempt to determine if college students' memory for oral directions could be enhanced. Mnemonic, paraphrase, and control conditions were compared for level of recall and recall in correct order. Results are discussed. (Author/MT)

With the use of a probe-type serial memory task, hearing and deaf children matched on chronological age, IQ, and sex were randomly assigned to named, unnamed, or dactylo-kinesthetic (finger spelled) stimulus pretraining conditions and compared on subsequent recall performance. (Author/MP)

This study investigated the linguistic processing of visual speech (video of a talker's utterance without audio) by determining if such has the capacity to prime subsequently presented word and nonword targets. The priming procedure is well suited for the investigation of whether speech perception is amodal since visual speech primes can be used…

An item that stands out (is isolated) from its context is better remembered than an item consistent with the context. This isolation effect cannot be accounted for by increased attention, because it occurs when the isolated item is presented as the first item, or by impoverished memory of nonisolated items, because the isolated item is better…

This study examined the impact of various temporal patterns of maternal interactive behavior with their infant on the infant's quality of attachment. The sample consisted of 52 dyads from the Berlin Longitudinal Study of Early Adaptation. Quality of attachment was assessed at 21 months with the Strange Situation Procedure. Nine infants were…

A randomization model appropriate for evaluating priority effects in free recall (i.e., whether "new" items are recalled prior to "old" items) is discussed and related to well-known nonparametric significance tests. Since the bases for the measures that have been suggested in the psychological literature may be interpreted…

Results showed that when information about a target individual was presented in two internally consistent blocks which were mutually contradictory, impressions produced by concrete operational adolescents contained a significantly greater proportion of evaluative statements in the same evaluative direction as the first block of information…