The serial-position curve in kinesthetic short-term memory

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the serial-position curve of a serial recall and the influence of induced rehearsal on this curve in kinesthetic short-term memory. Subjects were male and female students in kindergarten, grades 3, 5, 8, and 11 enrolled in the Russellville Public School system; and in college at Arkansas Tech University, Russellville, Arkansas. Twenty-one subjects at each grade level were required to move six different positions, defined by a stop, on a linear-slide apparatus under three different conditions and to recall in order after a 5-second interval. The three conditions were a control condition (CONT), which required no rehearsal to any position within a sequence; a position 3 condition (POS 3), which required induced rehearsal (i.e. two immediate repetitions to the same position) at position 3; and a position 5 condition (POS 5), which required induced rehearsal at position 5. Presentation of movement to positions was maintained at a rate of approximately one each 3 seconds. The six criterion positions for each trial were selected to insure that each trial contained short and long movements and no position-location was repeated within a trial. Three trial sequences were established to counterbalance the order of condition presentation. ...