Recall Instructions and the Suffix Effect

Performance on the last few items of a 12-word list was impaired when a spoken Recall was used as the cue for recall, relative to performance with a nonverbal cue. This suffix effect occurred with four types of recall instructions after auditory presentation, including instructions for conventional serial and free recall. Even when subjects were instructed to recall the last few items first, there was slight impairment with the suffix. The present experiment raises a problem for the notion of a system of precategorical acoustic storage in that a smaller suffix effect was expected with instructions that delayed recall of the last few items, yet the magnitude of the effect was roughly equivalent with the different instructions. Three potential solutions to this problem are outlined.