Serial position effects in semantic memory: Reconstructing the order of verses of hymns

Abstract

Serial position effects (primacy and recency) have been consistently demonstrated in both short-and long-term episodic memory tasks. The search for corresponding effects in semantic memory tasks (e.g., reconstructing the order of U.S. presidents) has been confounded by factors such as differential exposure to stimuli. In the present study, the stimuli were six-verse hymns that would have been sung from the first to the last verse by churchgoers on numerous occasions. Participants were presented with the verses of each hymn in random order and were required to reconstruct the correct order. Primacy and recency effects were significantly more evident for churchgoers than for nonchurchgoers. Moreover, error gradients were steeper than chance for churchgoers but not for nonchurchgoers; in other words, churchgoers' errors were more likely to be close to the correct position than further away. These findings provide the first unequivocal demonstration of serial position effects in semantic memory.

A Remember-Know Analysis of the Semantic Serial Position Function

“…The data reported here and in other semantic serial position function papers (e.g., Crowder, 1993;Healy et al, 2000;Healy & Parker, 2001;Kelley et al, 2013;Maylor, 2002;Neath & Saint-Aubin, 2011;Overstreet & Healy, 2011;Roediger & Crowder, 1976) all converge on the same conclusion: serial position functions observed when the test nominally taps semantic memory do not differ from those observed when the task nominally taps episodic memory.…”

“…The issue of which memory system is being tapped may be slightly less clear for the serial position functions observed with either well-known hymns (Maylor, 2002), a college "fight song" (Overstreet & Healy, 2011), or theme songs from popular children's cartoons (Kelley, Neath, & Surprenant, 2013). For the two remaining classes of stimuli, books and movies, the question is quite apposite: Are such serial position functions really semantic?…”

Immediate memory for “when, where and what”: Short‐delay retrieval using dynamic naturalistic material

“…Those previous behavioral findings imply that scale‐invariance is a form of self‐similarity in that the holistic pattern can exist at multiple levels of magnification [and even across different memory systems, e.g., Maylor, 2002]. Here, our data affirmed the importance of the posterior parietal cortex in both immediate and long‐term retrieval [Berryhill et al, 2007, 2011] and further characterized its involvement in dealing with the spatial relations of objects within scenes [Bricolo et al, 2000; Buiatti et al, 2011].…”

Item and order information in semantic memory: students’ retention of the “CU fight song” lyrics

“…The present experiments were designed to follow up Maylor's (2002) study, which found a bow-shaped serial position function for hymns sung by churchgoers. One important problem with her experiment, as she acknowledged, is that the advantage she observed for the first position could have been due, at least in part, to familiarity, because the first verse of a hymn is often announced in church before singing begins.…”

“…Following these studies involving semantic memory, Maylor (2002) attempted to control for familiarity by having churchgoers complete a reconstruction-of-order task for six-verse hymns. She argued that the hymns would be part of semantic memory because they are repeatedly sung over the course of several years.…”