Dn. Harper et al., LIST ITEM MEMORY IN RATS - EFFECTS OF DELAY AND DELAY TASK, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes, 19(4), 1993, pp. 307-316
The Serial Position Effect (SPE) was studied in rats using 2 manipulat
ions analogous to those that have been shown to decrease the recency e
ffect but leave the primacy effect intact in human Ss. In Pall 1, dela
ys (5 s to 60 s) were imposed between exposure to a sequence of arms p
resented in a 12-arm radial maze and a subsequent test phase. In Part
2, the effect of free access to food in a short (10-s) delay was exami
ned. The results from Parts 1 and 2 showed that the primacy and recenc
y effects were differentially sensitive to the delay and events within
it. In particular the recency effect was found to be more sensitive t
o disruption from these sources. The present demonstration of a reduct
ion in recency with procedures analogous to those used with humans ext
ends the evidence, suggesting that the SPE obtained in rats and humans
is a similar phenomenon.