Two-component theory of the suffix effect: contrary evidence

The suffix effect is the selective impairment in recall of the final items of a spoken list when the list is followed by a nominally irrelevant speech item, or suffix. It is widely assumed to comprise a bottom-up, or structural, effect restricted to the terminal item and a top-down, or conceptually sensitive, effect confined to the preterminal items. Reported here are eight experiments that challenge this view by demonstrating that the terminal suffix effect, as well as the preterminal suffix effect, is susceptible to conceptual influence. The entire suffix effect may be better conceived of as a phenomenon arising from perceptual grouping.