Incentives, information, rehearsal, and the negative recency effect

The negative recency effect is generally attributed to inadequate rehearsal of terminal input items during study. In two experiments, Ss were encouraged to increase rehearsal of initial or terminal input items by offers of incentives for remembering these items and information that there would be a delayed memory test (Experiment I) or by explicit instructions to rehearse terminal items and provision of added rehearsal time (Experiment II). Serial position curves in immediate and delayed recall were little affected by these manipulations. These results are more in line with models that give rehearsal the role of maintaining items in a short-term store than with models that accord rehearsal a role in transfer of information to a more permanent store.