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Related Experiment Videos

Serial position effects in recognition memory for odors: a reexamination.

Christopher Miles1, Kathryn Hodder

  • 1School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3YG, Wales, UK. miles@cardiff.ac.uk

Memory & Cognition
|March 15, 2006
PubMed
Summary

This study on odor recognition memory found that recency effects, or better recall of later items, were common. However, primacy effects, or better recall of earlier items, were inconsistent, especially with easily named odors.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Olfactory Perception
  • Memory Research

Background:

  • Recognition memory for sequentially presented stimuli often exhibits primacy and recency effects.
  • Previous research suggested these effects for odors, but findings were inconsistent.
  • The current study aimed to systematically investigate serial position effects in odor recognition memory.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To replicate and extend findings on primacy and recency effects in odor recognition memory.
  • To examine the influence of odor nameability and articulatory suppression on serial position effects.
  • To determine if odor recognition is affected by interference or olfactory fatigue.

Main Methods:

  • Seven experiments involved participants recognizing odors from sequentially presented sequences.

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  • Manipulations included sequence length, interstimulus interval, odor nameability, articulatory suppression, and interleaved stimuli.
  • Recognition accuracy and serial position effects (primacy and recency) were analyzed.

    • Main Results:

    • Significant recency effects were observed in most experiments, particularly with hard-to-name odors.
    • Primacy effects were inconsistent and generally absent, especially with nameable odors.
    • Articulatory suppression and interleaved odors did not consistently eliminate recency effects.
    • No evidence of olfactory fatigue was found; recognition improved over trials.

    Conclusions:

    • Recency effects are a robust feature of odor recognition memory, especially for difficult-to-name odors.
    • Primacy effects are less reliable in odor recognition compared to other sensory modalities.
    • Odor nameability and verbal processing play a role in modulating serial position effects.
    • Findings align with models of memory suggesting recency dominates under conditions of limited verbal encoding.