title: The effects of interference tasks on recency in the free recall of action events.
abstract: Lists of verbal instructions were read aloud and each was enacted either by the subject (SPTs) or by the experimenter (EPTs). In Experiment 1 free recall was made of lists of SPTs and EPTs either immediately after presentation, after an empty 20-s delay interval, or after a 20-s delay interval filled with backward counting. The recall of recency items was unaffected by the empty delay interval, but was somewhat reduced by the counting task. In Experiment 2 free recall was made of lists of SPTs and EPTs either immediately after presentation or after a delay that was filled with a single SPT or a single EPT, 20 s in length. The recency effect evident in the immediate-recall condition was virtually wiped out in the delay conditions, irrespective of whether the delay task matched those in the free-recall list or not. These results are discussed in terms of the mnemonic similarity of the two types of action event.
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013997:Time Factors