Serial-Position Effect and Organization of Recall of Connected Meaningful Verbal Material

Abstract

Factor analyses of recall measures by King have consistently resulted in a two-factor solution with the first dimension being quantitative and the second, organizational in nature. To test the generality of the serial position with respect to connected discourse, an eight-sentence passage summarizing the arguments, pro and con, of having a female prime minister was written. It was presented individually to 48 men and 48 women, with the sentences interchanged around conjunctions to control for position effects. While sex differences and the sex × position interactions were not significant, combined data supported the serial-position effect along both the quantitative and organizational dimensions. The organization of the recalls using both dependent accuracy measures was described in terms of positively decelerating functions. Analyses of the recall of sex × pro-con arguments yielded no significant differences on this presumably sex-linked topic with either dimensional measure.