Procedure - Two groups of P's were presented with the same list of words. Group A were tested on immediate recall (nonsense syllables)
- Group B recalled after 30 seconds in which they completed a distactor task.
Results - There was some evidence of the primacy effect (P's could recall items from the start of the task more accurately because they'd been transferred to the LTM) but the recency effect disappeared.
Conclusion - Millers suggestion of a STM capacity of 7 is affected by the primacy effect, and the true capacity of STM is only 3 or 4 'chunks'
Evaluation - It isolated the affect of STM recall whilst minimising the effect of LTM influences but, lacks mundane realism.
- word lists do not comprise a reflection of the memory tasks used in everyday life.
- Lacked ecological validity
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