A tactile suffix effect

Evidence for a representational tactile memory was obtained from a tactile analogue of the auditory suffix effect. In two experiments, a short sequence of tactile stimuli applied to the fingers was followed by an acoustic (control) or tactile (suffix) recall signal. The serial position curves for the two conditions were compared. They revealed similar and strong primacy effects, but recall of the last few stimuli was higher in the control condition. This terminal control advantage was attributed to the retention of raw tactile information.