The long-term recency effect in recognition memory.
Three classes of theories explain the recency effect: the modal model, single-store models, and the composite view, which integrates the two positions. None could explain the absence of a long-term recency effect in recognition memory in previous studies. We suggest that prior work did not obtain a recency effect because testing used a multiple-probe rather than a single-probe recognition procedure. Here we tested memory using a single-probe recognition procedure. Experimental conditions included an immediate test, a delayed test after a filled interval, and a continuous-distractor paradigm in which the same filled delay preceded the first word and followed every study word. The long-term recency effect in continuous-distractor recognition was equivalent to the recency effect in immediate recognition. Its absence in the delayed recognition condition demonstrated that it was not attributed to the use of a putative short-term memory store. Single-store models and the composite view can account for this novel finding.
Talmi
Deborah
D
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. debbie@psych.utoronto.ca
Goshen-Gottstein
Yonatan
Y
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013997:Time Factors