title: Serial position effects in 2-alternative forced choice recognition: functional equivalence across visual and auditory modalities.
abstract: Two experiments examined Ward, Avons, and Melling's (2005) proposition that the serial position function is task, rather than modality, dependent. Specifically, they proposed that for backward testing the 2-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) recognition paradigm is characterised by single-item recency irrespective of the modality of the stimulus presentation. In Experiment 1 the same nonword sequences, presented both visually or auditorily, produced qualitatively equivalent serial position functions with 2AFC testing. Forward testing produced a flat serial position function, while backward testing produced two-item recency in the absence of primacy. In order to rule out the possibility that the serial position functions for visual stimuli were the product of sub-vocal rehearsal, Experiment 2 employed articulatory suppression during the presentation phase. Serial position function equivalence was again observed together with a modest impairment in overall recognition rates. Taken together, these data are consistent with the Ward et al. proposition and further support the existence of a visual memory that can facilitate storage of visual-verbal material (e.g. Logie, Della Sella, Wynn, & Baddeley, 2000). However, the observation of two-item recency contradicts the original duplex account of single-item recency traditionally observed for backwards recognition testing of visual stimuli (Phillips & Christie, 1977).
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Coventry University, UK. andrew.johnson@coventry.ac.uk
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Miles
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012691:Serial Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D014825:Vocabulary; D055815:Young Adult