A Theory of the Serial Position Effect

The paper proposes a theory of the well‐known serial position effect that makes quantitative predictions, acceptable by non‐parametric tests, of the observed amount of bowing of the serial position curve. The theory, which stems from viewing the central nervous system as an information‐processing system, is compared with the Lepley‐Hull hypothesis and Atkinson's theory of the serial phenomena, and is shown to be more satisfactory than the older explanations.