The interactive effects of instructional set and environmental context changes on the serial position effect

Abstract

Subjects were first given either conventional acquisition instructions for single-trial free recall or experimental instructions encouraging the use of the general environmental context as a source of potential facilitatory associations. Subjects were then given the recall test on the 35-item list in either the same or a different room context. Subjects receiving experimental instructions gave significantly more correct responses than did control subjects, regardless of test-room context. However, there was an interactive effect of context and the position of the words recalled, with recency items being adversely affected and primacy items facilitated by contextual changes. The overall facilitatory effect of the contextual instruction was due to a significant increase in middle items recalled by the experimental group (i.e., a reduction of the serial position effect). © 1981, The Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.