Primacy and Recency Effects Found Using Affective Word Lists.
Demaree, Heath A PHD *; Shenal, Brian V PHD +; Everhart, D Erik PHD ++[S]; Robinson, Jennifer L BA *
[Miscellaneous Article] Cognitive & Behavioral Neurology. 17(2):102-108, June 2004.

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This experiment tested hypotheses linking the right cerebral regulation of hostility and affective verbal learning. First, patterns of recall for positive, negative, and neutral affective list learning among high- and low-hostile individuals were examined. It was expected that low-hostiles would recall more items from the positive list and that high-hostiles would recall more words from the negative affective list. Also, independent of groups, it was expected that there would be a primacy effect for negative words and a recency effect for positive words. Exploratory analyses examined the relation between hostility and primacy and recency effects on the positive and negative word lists. High- and low-hostile participants (n = 65) completed the positive list learning task, the negative list learning task, or the neutral list learning task. Data analyses revealed no significant difference between the high- and low-hostile groups on the different affective lists. However, results of the present investigation reliably demonstrated the predicted primacy and recency effects. There was a primacy effect for the negative affective list and a recency effect for the positive affective list. These findings are consistent with previous research investigating the acquisition pattern of affective verbal learning.

(C) 2004 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.