Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 18, 2026

A Two-interval Forced-choice Task for Multisensory Comparisons
Published on: November 9, 2018
Time versus items in judgment of recency
1Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA. hintzman@uoregon.edu
Abstract:
In the numerical judgment of recency (JOR) task, subjects judge how many items have intervened since the test item was previously presented. Two experiments were conducted to determine whether the basis of JOR is the age of the memory (time) or the number of intervening items. Subjects went through a long list that was made up of alternating fast blocks and slow blocks, but the block structure was disguised by probabilistic selection of a short or long intertrial interval. In both experiments, JOR was found to be a simple function of time, with no added contribution from the number of items.
Related Concept Videos
Serial Position Effect
First Impression
The Availability Heuristic
Framing Effects
Interference and Decay
Interference occurs when competing memories hinder the retrieval of particular information. It can be classified into two types: proactive and retroactive interference. Proactive...
Reason and Intuition

