The role of spatial cues in the probe-type serial memory task.

2 experiments were carried out with the aim of clarifying the role of spatial cues in the probe-type serial memory task devised by Atkinson, Hansen, and Bernbach. In experiment 1, preventing the formation of specific items-location associations drastically reduced performance at the early to intermediate serial positions for a group of second graders; yet these children still exhibited a primancy effect (position 1 greater than position2). In experiment 2, the stimulus items were spaced farther apart than usual in an attempt to reduce the contextual uniqueness of the first (far left) item. Children aged 4 and 5 years who were administered this task produced a serial-position function that was essentially flat. It was concluded that (a) spatial cues serve as functional stimuli in the standard probe-type task, and (b) the contextual uniqueness of the first item is probably responsible for the occurrence of primacy in young children. Implications of this research for interpreting age-related differences in the shape of the serial-position curve were also discussed.