Results from previous memory tests shows a few effects, and recognized a few patterns in the way in which we remember things. The serial position effect is the tendency to have the most error in remembering the middle items from an ordered list (Coon, 1994). This effect leads us to the other two: the primacy effect and the recency effect. In addition, in the 1960's, manipulations involving the serial position curve were used to support the theory about the organization of memory and its two distinct structures: the short-term store and the long-term store.

Studies have shown that a manipulation in the experiment will alter the size of the recency or the primacy effect. Glanzer & Cunitz (1996) had participants count backwards for 30 seconds between the presentation of the list and the beginning of recall. Counting backwards caused the list items to drop out of the short-term store; as a result recall was based solely on long-tern memory. The counting backwards eliminated the recency effect, but had no effect at all on the primacy effect. By the

Some common words found in the essay are:
Introduction Recognizing, Glanzer Cunitz, Serial Position, , primacy effect, recency effect, serial position, position curve, serial position curve, short-term store, items list, long-term memory, memory experiment, list serial position, effect found, beginning list, effect items ones, experiment recency effect, effect primacy effect,
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