An experimenter presents a list of words for participants to free recall in any order.Immediately after the list is presented, the participants must do math problems before they recall.Relative to a condition in which recall is immediate, the participants who did math problems will show:
A)a decrease in their primacy effect but not their recency effect.
B)a decrease in their recency effect, but not their primacy effect.
C)no differences.
D)both primacy and recency will decrease by approximately the same amount.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The primacy effect refers to the better recall of items at the beginning of the list, and the recency effect refers to the better recall of items at the end of the list. Doing math problems after studying the list will interfere with the rehearsal and consolidation of items in short-term memory, leading to a decrease in the recency effect. However, the primacy effect is thought to be based on the transfer of items into long-term memory through more elaborate encoding processes, and thus may be less affected by the math task. Therefore, the participants who did math problems will show a decrease in their recency effect but not their primacy effect.

An Experimenter Presents a List of Words for Participants to Free