Abstract
Three experiments tested the effect of the availability of the last item on the recall performance for earlier list items in a stimulus suffix paradigm. A decrement due to the suffix occurred for preterminal positions even when the last item was made available. This preterminal suffix effect was found to be more extensive in a condition in which subjects were free to recall the end items first than in a condition in which subjects were forced to recall in a strict left-to-right fashion.
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Balota, D. A., & Engle, R. W.Structural and control elements in the stimulus suffix effect. Paper presented at the meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, St. Louis, Missouri, 1980.
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This research was supported in part by Grant HD-11114 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Parts of Experiment 3 were suggested by an appropriately cautious anonymous reviewer.
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Engle, R.W. The suffix effect: How many positions are involved?. Memory & Cognition 8, 247–252 (1980). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197612
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197612