Performance for three independent living tasks were examined via task analyses. Given the relatively small sample size (n = 56) of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, we simulated 1000 replications based upon observed results using Monte Carlo techniques. The results of the current study suggest that: (1) adaptive…

Surprising version-dependent differences are noted in student performance on certain questions in a standardized general chemistry exam. The exam in question has two versions, on which both questions and answers are ordered differently. For the questions suspected of answer-order bias, the performance is better in ten of twelve cases when students…

An activity that teaches psychology students about the primacy effect that occurs when individuals make judgments about the ability of other people is described. The primacy effect is the tendency for an observer's judgment to be influenced more strongly by early information about a person than by information that comes later. (Author/RM)

Studied the primacy effect (tendency to select items closer to the left side of the response scale) in Likert scales worded from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree" and in the opposite direction. Findings for 386 high school and college students show no primacy effect, although negatively worded stems had an effect on Cronbach's alpha. (SLD)

Previous research has suggested the existence of a primacy effect in the attribution of ability. To test if the primacy effect occurs in situations where specific cues about the person and nature of the test materials are lacking or greatly reduced, college students corrected a multiple-choice test in which a phantom stimulus person correctly…

This article challenges Yaakov Kareev's (1995a, 2000) argument regarding the positive bias of intuitive correlation estimates due to working memory capacity limitations and its adaptive value. The authors show that, under narrow window theory's primacy effect assumption, there is a considerable between-individual variability of the effects of…

Extending previous work on biased predecisional processing, we investigate the distortion of information during the evaluation of a single option. A coherence-based account of the evaluation task suggests that individuals will form an initial assessment of favorability toward the option and then bias their evaluation of subsequent information to…

In three experiments using a single-trial, free-recall procedure, subjects were sometimes presented a forget cue during a list, meaning that they were not responsible for recalling any of the words which preceded it, only those which followed it. Since the primacy effect over the functional beginning of such lists was not diminished, the proactive…

Rats were trained to emit a series of three-response sequences to a criterion (i.e., more than 80% of all emitted sequences correct over five successive sessions). Each rat was trained on a series of different, three-response sequences. After the final three-response sequence was acquired, two extinction tests were administered, and the…

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of stimulus presentation rate on recall and primacy-recency effects in children. Results indicated that the traditional interpretation of the primacy effect as reflecting long-term memory store may not be valid. (Author/SB)

The spatial and temporal components of a serial position recall task were experimentally manipulated in a study using kindergarten, first grade, and second grade children to determine the factors involved in the primacy effect. (BRT)

An item that stands out (is isolated) from its context is better remembered than an item consistent with the context. This isolation effect cannot be accounted for by increased attention, because it occurs when the isolated item is presented as the first item, or by impoverished memory of nonisolated items, because the isolated item is better…

Suggests that serial presentation of inconsistent information results in a primacy effect in subjects, and that the experimenter.s response requirements are responsible for any recency effects obtained. The results are interpreted in terms of attention redistribution. (RW)

In this study, a procedure was devised to experimentally separate the spatial and temporal task components of a serial-position recall task in an attempt to account for the primacy effect observed in experiments using this paradigm with young children and retarded subjects. A total of 48, 5- to 7-year-old, children were tested in a serial-position…

This paper describes an investigation of some effects of group interaction and consensus on information processing behavior. When individuals were asked to assess a hypothetical situation on the basis of various sequentially received data, a definite primacy effect was observed; individuals gave more weight to data they received first. This…