Abstract

The current experiment examined the relationship between memory and word placement. The Serial Position Effect suggests that the placement of an item in a list may either facilitate or inhibit recall. Participants were read aloud a list of twenty words, generated by the experimenters that contained food and beverage items (e.g., coffee, tomatoes, flour) and one non-edible item (shampoo). Immediately following the oral presentation of the list, twenty-five participants were asked to recall, in any order, what they had been read. As predicted, due to the primacy effect, participants demonstrated recall for the first word in the list. In addition, the data support the recency effect, as participants had facilitated recall for the last item in the list. Finally, as predicted by the Von Restorff effect, participants had enhanced recall for the unique item (i.e., the non-edible item) in the list. These findings suggest that placement of an item is critical in memory for the item. The implications of this work for advertisers and for the legal system are discussed.