The influence of long-term memory factors on immediate serial recall: An item and order analysis

In immediate serial recall, an error can occur because the presented item i s not recalled (item error) or because it is recalled at the wrong serial p osition (order error). Even if these two types of information can be select ively influenced, in most current studies, a global performance measure con founding item and order information is used. Here, the issues associated wi th the measure of memory for item and order information are discussed. Firs t, it is argued that in some circumstances it is very important that item i nformation be controlled for when measuring order retention, by for example , conditionalizing order memory on memory for item information. Second, usi ng such measures, it is shown that long-term memory factors recently invest igated in immediate serial recall produce a different pattern of results th an what is predicted by most current models: Semantic similarity, word freq uency, and lexicality all influence item recall, but only lexicality affect s order information. These findings are discussed in the light of a retriev al-based account suggesting that degraded phonological traces must undergo a reconstruction process calling upon long-term knowledge of the to-be-reme mbered items.