Title: Examining the relationship between free recall and immediate serial recall: The effects of list length and output order.
Abstract: In four experiments, participants were presented with lists of between 1 and 15 words for tests of immediate memory.In each experiment, participants tended to initiate recall with the first word on the list for short lists, but as the list length was increased so there was a decreased tendency to start with the first list item; and, when free to do so, participants showed an increased tendency to start with one of the last four list items.In all conditions, the start position strongly influenced the shape of the resultant serial position curves: when recall started at serial position 1, elevated recall of early list items was observed; when recall started towards the end of the list, there were extended recency effects.These results occurred under free recall, and different variants of immediate serial recall (ISR) and reconstruction of order tasks.We argue that these findings have implications for the relationship between recall and rehearsal and free recall and ISR.