SERIAL POSITION EFFECTS IN IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT TESTS OF MEMORY

The effects of serial position at study on implicit and explicit tests of memory were investigated. Both primacy and recency effects were ob served in implicit tests of word-stem completion. These effects, howev er, were transient. No serial position effects were found in the secon d half of testing (Experiments 1 and 3) or when testing followed a 1-m in, filled delay (Experiment 2). Serial position effects were also exa mined in explicit tests of cued recall. When performance on explicit c ued recall was below ceiling levels, a primacy effect persisted throug hout testing (Experiment 3). Similarly, in explicit tests of free reca ll, primacy effects were consistently observed, both with immediate te sting (Experiments 1 and 3) and when testing followed a filled delay ( Experiment 2).