The Ranschburg effect: Stimulus variables and scoring criterion*

The influence of stimulus variables on recall of intraserially repeated items was investigated with a parametric manipulation of the rate of presentation (.4, .8, or 1.6 sec/item), modality of presentation (auditory or visual), and sequence length (7 or 10 items long). The results indicated that the Ranschburg effect, poorer recall of repeated items than of corresponding control items, is relatively insensitive to stimulus manipulations. The Ranschburg effect was found to be localized primarily at the position of the second occurrence of the repeated item. The influence of the repeated items did not generalize to the other (nonrepeated) items of the sequence. Differences in the Ranschburg effect as a function of the scoring criterion were discussed. The results were interpreted as being consistent with a guessing bias interpretation of the Ranschburg effect.