Free Recall

Free Recall

Reviewed by Faisal Zaidi

A memory test in which people report the items they remember in any order.

What it is

It is the setting in which Bennet Murdock described the serial position curve in 1962. Because the order of report is free, it shows which positions in a list are remembered, and it is the basis for later studies of primacy, recency and negative recency.

In effect

In the article on the serial position effect, it is the method behind the classic curve.

What it does not say

It is a testing method, not a finding, and results can differ in recall tests where order is fixed.

Sources

  1. Murdock, B. B. (1962). The serial position effect of free recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology.