• DOI:10.1037/H0040536
• Corpus ID: 21383630

Serial effects in recall of unorganized and sequentially organized verbal material.

@article{Deese1957SerialEI,
  title={Serial effects in recall of unorganized and sequentially organized verbal material.},
  author={James Deese and Roger A. Kaufman},
  journal={Journal of experimental psychology},
  year={1957},
  volume={54 3},
  pages={
          180-7
        }
}

• J. Deese, R. Kaufman
• Published 1 September 1957
• Psychology
• Journal of experimental psychology

One of the best established generalizations in the study of verbal learning is found in the serial position effect for the learning of homogeneous, discrete verbal items by the method of serial anticipation. Some form of the classical serial position curve is found for a considerable variety of verbal material and conditions of testing; the essential restriction seems to be that the learning and/or recall be by the method of serial anticipation or some modification of it (5). Several studies (4, 8) show that there is quite a different form of the serial position effect when free recall is the method of testing employed. With the method of free recall, the middle items are less frequently recalled, the first items are moderately well recalled, and the last items are most frequently recalled. Thus, the serial position curve for serial anticipation and that for free recall are roughly mirror images of one another. This, of course, is a qualitative comparison, since the exact form of the curves will depend upon the material and method of testing. Recently, Bousfield, Cohen, and Silva (2) have noted that in free recall the order in which items are recalled depends upon their probability of being recalled. Items frequently recalled by everyone are apt to be recalled first by particular individuals. Since, in free recall, the