Serial position effects; the influence of operation shift, ascribed position and spatial presentation order

Seven experiments, all focused on serial position phenomena, showed the usual primacyrecency pattern to be easily disrupted. The theoretical assumption that learning operations lose power as a function of continuous use was refuted on empirical grounds. Repeated observations revealed how difficult it is to represent spatial series on the basis of randomized temporal inputs. A two-stage interpretation of serial learning was claimed to be compatible with the experimental findings: Stage I involves item differentiation, Stage II integration of the differentiated items.