Recency and suffix effects with immediate recall of olfactory stimuli

In contrast to our understanding of the immediate recall of auditory and vi sual material, little is known about the corresponding characteristics of s hort-term olfactory memory. The current study investigated the pattern of i mmediate serial recall and the associated suffix effect using olfactory sti muli. Subjects were trained initially to identify and name correctly nine d ifferent odours. Experiment 1 established an immediate correct recall span of approximately six items. In Experiment 2 participants recalled serially span equivalent lists which were followed by a visual, auditory, or olfacto ry suffix. Primacy was evident in the recall curves for all three suffix co nditions. Recency, in contrast, was evident in the auditory and visual suff ix conditions only; there was a strong suffix effect in the olfactory suffi x condition. Experiment 3 replicated this pattern of effects using seven-it em lists, and demonstrated that the magnitude of the recency and suffix eff ects obtained in the olfactory modality can equate to that obtained in the auditory modality. It is concluded that the pattern of recency and suffix e ffects in the olfactory modality is reliable, and poses difficulties for th ose theories that rely on the presence of a primary linguistic code, sound, or changing state as determinants of these effects in serial recall.