List memory has been studied since the experimental study of behavior began (Ebbinghaus 1902). List-memory results are displayed as a serial position function, usually showing best memory for items at the beginning of the list (the primacy effect) and at the end of the list (the recency effect) – a U-shaped serial position function. These serial position effects and their changes over time (retention delay) have had a profound impact on concepts and theories of how human memory works (e.g., Crowder 1976). List-memory studies can be more informative about how memory works than single-item memory studies because in the real world events are almost never encountered in isolation and are imbedded in a surrounding stream of other events. In order to further extend the role of list memory in understanding memory generally, nonhuman animals need to be tested in these same list-memory tasks for direct species comparisons.
The major impediment to testing animals in list-memory tasks has been...
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Wright, A.A. (2022). List Memory Effects (Primacy and Recency). In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55065-7_1103
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