Forward serial recall is affected by a diverse range of phonological factors that are readily replicated and relatively well understood. In contrast with backward recall, these phonological effects are not consistently replicable in that some studies show that the effects are present and some show the effects are absent or severely attenuated. Moreover at the theoretical level there is no consensus about how participants perform backward recall. The current research was aimed at understanding the differences between forward and backward recall by using meta-analytic techniques on 16 previously published experiments that examined the effects of benchmark phonological factors on both forward and backward recall. In each of the studies, recall was decomposed into 2 components, the first 2 items output and the remaining later responses. A consistent pattern emerged in the data. Each effect was present in both the early and late output positions in forward recall. The effects were present in the late output positions in backward recall, but the effects were weaker than in forward recall. The phonological variables had little impact on early output in backward recall (with the exceptions of articulatory suppression). The presence of qualitative differences between forward and backward recall and quantitative differences between studies have implications for the theoretical understanding of direction of recall in immediate memory tasks.

While current theoretical models remain somewhat inconclusive in their explanation of short-term memory (STM), many theories suggest at least a contribution of long-term memory (LTM) to the short-term system. A number of researchers refer to this process as redintegration (e.g., Schweickert, 1993). Under short-term recall conditions, the current study investigated the effects of redintegration and task difficulty in order to extend research conducted by Neale and Tehan (2007). Thirty participants in Experiment 1 and 26 participants in Experiment 2 completed a serial recall task in which retention interval, presentation rate, and articulatory suppression were used to modify task difficulty. Redintegration was examined by manipulating the characteristics of the to-be-remembered items; lexicality in Experiment 1 and wordlikeness in Experiment 2. Responses were scored based on correct-in-position recall, item scoring, and order accuracy scoring. In line with the Neale and Tehan results, as the difficulty of the task increased so did the effects of redintegration. This was evident in that the advantage for words in Experiment 1 and wordlikeness in Experiment 2 decreased as task difficulty increased. This relationship was observed for item but not order memory, and findings were discussed in relation to the theory of redintegration.

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A reading community is one that not only values the act of reading – it is one where everyone reads! There is a culture amongst staff, students and families at Meriden where reading is more than valued – it is an integral part of our daily life. Meriden is a P-12 Anglican day school for girls. It is situated in the centrally located suburb of Strathfield in Sydney, Australia. Through Meriden’s recognition of its community’s diversity it is a place where students are able to grow in faith, care and learning. Central to all teaching programs at Meriden is the belief that learning is a lifelong process.