Effects of Rehearsal Instructions on the Primacy Effect in Free Recall
The effects of rehearsal on the primacy effect in the serial position curve were investigated. Subjects were instructed to either rehearse or not rehearse previous list items presented at the rate of 1 word/0.5 sec., 1 word/sec., and 1 word/2 sec. The differential rehearsal hypothesis predicted that primacy effects would be observed only in the rehearsal condition. An alternative explanation of the primacy effect in terms of the 1933 von Restorff effect and rehearsal predicted a primacy effect in both the rehearsal and nonrehearsal conditions, with a larger primacy effect in the former. Primacy effects were observed in all conditions but were not significantly larger in the rehearsal condition. The results supported the explanation which included the von Restorff effect.