The serial position effect and different error types in anticipation learning

Abstract.— Minor modifications of the usual serial anticipation procedure did not affect the well-known Serial Position Effect (SPE), while the errors, i.e. Intra-list-Intrusions (ILI) and Failure-TeRespond (FTR), showed deviations from the usual distributions. It was therefore concluded that the SPE should not be analysed in terms of different error types, ILI and FTR. Transfer-to-position measured by means of a number-syllable paired association (PA) task, and a free-recall test of the original serial anticipation list measured after the termination of the PA-task showed a skewed and a symmetrical trend respectively. It was suggested that response-learning accounted for the symmetrical component of the SPE while association-to-position, contrary to prevailing views, was responsible for the skewed component.