Contextual associations and memory for serial position.

Three experiments used a combination list-discrimination and positionjudgment task to investigate the role of contextual factors in incidental memory for serial position. In Experiment I, two temporally denned lists were presented; in Experiments II and III, there were four and three lists, respectively. Following presentation of the lists, 5s made judgments of the list membership and within-list position of test words. Judgment frequencies revealed: (a) a temporal factor, affecting list identification and producing strong primacy and recency effects; and (b) an effect of position, when more than two lists were used, such that a word assigned to an incorrect list still tended to be placed in the correct within-list position. When the retention interval was lengthened the effects of primacy and within-list position were unaffected, while the effect of recency was reduced. An interpretatio n is offered which assumes judgments of serial position are based on contextual associations.