santero

Ilaria Santoro 1, Fabrizio Sors 1, Serena Mingolo 1, Valter Prpic 2,3, Tiziano Agostini 1, Mauro Murgia 1
Affiliations:
1. Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste 34138, Italy
2. Department of Philosophy and Communication Studies, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
3. Institute for Psychological Science, De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom

Aims: Investigate the serial position effect in recall of items verbally presented across three contexts.
Background: Explores the serial position effect as seen in verbal (words) and visuospatial stimuli, but not specifically in verbal-spatial stimuli (spatial descriptions).
Objective: To determine if varying contexts (classic word list, spatial description, narrative without spatial information) affect the serial position effect.
Methods: Participants were presented with:
- a) A list of objects (classic word list)
- b) A spatial description of a room with identical objects
- c) A narrative presentation of these objects without spatial context.
Results: Recognition task showed distinct accuracy distributions in the three contexts, highlighting the spatial description condition where the accuracy did not vary with item position.
Conclusion: Spatial descriptions appear to mirror visuospatial stimuli and enhance item retention while negating the serial position effect.

Spatial description, Serial position, Context, Verbal stimuli, Visuospatial stimuli, Serial position effect.

Definition: The serial position effect refers to accuracy variations based on item position in a sequence, higher for the first (primacy effect) and last items (recency effect); middle items are often forgotten.
Representation: Typically illustrated by a U-shaped curve of recall accuracy plotted against item position.
Evidence: Substantial studies support serial position effect observations with verbal materials, including letters and words.
- Hurlstone et al.'s research discusses the ease of manipulating verbal materials.
Controversies: Results for non-verbal materials, especially visuospatial stimuli, show inconsistencies.
- Cortis et al.'s findings indicate that both verbal and visuospatial materials demonstrate serial order effects, conditional on methodology variations.

Prior research suggests that memory might be influenced by the modality of the stimuli, indicating different effects across verbal and visuospatial context.
Studies involving spatial characteristics indicate that verbal descriptions can foster spatial relations and mental representations.

Hypothesis: There would be different accuracy distributions across item positions based on context.
- Expected result: Spatial descriptions would show reduced serial order influence, manifesting a flattened U-shaped accuracy curve compared to other contexts.

Sample: 75 university students (M = 19; F = 56); ages from 19 to 51 (M = 22, SD = 4.9).
Language: All participants were native Italian speakers.
Conditions: Participants provided informed consent, confirmed no influences from substances or sleep deprivation.

Variables: Two independent variables:
- Context (between subjects): List (L), Spatial (S), Narrative (N).
- Position (within subjects): Organised into groups; Initial (1-3), Central (7-9), Final (13-15).

Participants received auditory information through E-Prime Software and Sennheiser HD515 headphones.
Stimuli were fifteen words standard in frequency and letter count.

Conditions Defined:
- List Condition: Sequential presentation of words (e.g., “carpet, pillow, backpack…”).
- Spatial Condition: Objects included in a spatial description (e.g. “At the right corner, above the carpet on the floor…”).
- Narrative Condition: Story format featuring the same objects (e.g. “I lie down on the carpet…”).

Participants first signed informed consent and were acclimatized in a controlled environment.
They listened to the verbal stimuli (learning phase) before performing an old/new recognition task immediately thereafter.
Participants indicated whether presented words were old or new from a series of 30 words (15 old, 15 new), measured for accuracy and response times.

Statistical Analysis: A 3 x 3 (Context x Position) repeated measures ANOVA demonstrated:
- A significant main effect of Context [F(2, 72) = 11.912; p < .001; η2 = .249].
- A significant main effect of Position [F(2, 144) = 3.505; p < .05; η2 = .046].
- Significant interaction effects [F(4,144) = 5.658; p < .001; η2 = .136].

A 3 x 3 (Context x Position) ANOVA found no significant main effects or interactions.

The results suggest notable variations in accuracy distributions related to context presented.
The spatial description led to consistent accuracy across item positions.
The narrative condition only demonstrated a linear increment of accuracy without traditional serial position effects.
Overall, spatial descriptions acted similarly to visuospatial stimuli, suggesting a strong spatial encoding process.

This study concludes that descriptive context effectively alters the serial position effect in memory recall.
Spatial descriptions generate a spatial mental framework facilitating memorization and mitigating serial order effects, showing results consistent with Dual Coding Theory.

Conducted under University of Trieste Ethics Committee approval, conforming to ethical standards for human experimentation.

Includes extensive references supporting the methodology and findings, such as studies from Hurlstone et al., Murdock, and Johnson-Laird.