Sample Script for Serial Position Effect

GREET PARTICIPANT (CHECK STUDENT OFF SIGN UP SHEET)

I would like to ask you to participate in an experiment that I am conducting in which we are interested in looking at word perception. This experiment will only take about 10 minutes and I will be reading a list of words to you and asking you some questions about them. As we get to each part of the study, I will give you specific instructions. Before we begin, I need to get your consent that you agree to participate.

GIVE CONSENT FORM

Could you please read over and sign this for me. Thank you.

Now we are going to begin. Please turn off any cell phone or pager and please refrain from talking. Please take out a sheet of paper and a writing utensil. Please clear your mind of everything that you are thinking of. I am going to read some words to you. Please just listen to what I say, but do not write anything down. Do you have any questions before we start? PAUSE Okay, I am going to begin.

READ WORDS SLOWLY

Sugar Coffee Bagel Pasta Orange Flour Butter Shampoo Lettuce Ketchup Cookies Olives Apples Chocolate Eggs Potatoes Cheese Spinach Milk Rice

When I say begin, I would like you to write down as many of the words that you remember on the sheet of paper in front of you. You can write them down in any order that you remember them. Begin. TIME FOR 2 MINUTES

Please stop what you are writing, thank you. Now let me tell you a little bit more about what we were doing. There is a theory called the Serial Position Effect that suggests that where an item is placed in a list can effect its likelihood of being remembered. We were conducting the experiment today to see if we found support for several hypotheses based on this effect. Specifically, the primacy effect suggests that items place at the beginning of a list will have enhanced recall in comparison to items in the middle of the list. The recency effect suggests that items that placed toward the end of the list will have enhanced recall in comparison to items in the middle. Finally, the Von Restorff Effect suggests that unusual items will have enhanced recall. Thank you for your time today, do you have any questions?

DISMISS PARTICIPANT AND SIGN ANY EXTRA CREDIT FORMS FOR PARTICIPATING.