Primacy and recency effects in the assessment of memory using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test.

The present study examined the manifestation of the primacy and recency effects in patients with anterior brain damage, posterior brain damage, and psychiatric inpatients with no known organic impairment. All three groups of patients demonstrated both a primacy and a recency effect on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Differences among the three groups with respect to the magnitude of primacy and recency as well as with other variables reflecting free recall were nonsignificant. These findings limit the use of primacy and recency for the differentiation of memory deficits due to organic and nonorganic causes.