Doan, Barbara, A
994.19 KB of textual records (PDF)
Audience: Undergraduate. -- Dissertation: Thesis (B. A.). -- Algoma University, 1988. -- Submitted in partial fulfillment of course requirements for PSYC 4105. -- Includes figures. -- Contents: Literature review / Thesis.
Recent studies have shown that the serial-position effect is present in the memory system of humans and monkeys (Sands & Wright, 1980; Roberts & Kraemer, 1982). The present study used a linear maze to determine if the serial-position effect is characteristic of Wistar rats. The rats were tested under two experimental procedures. The first experiment examined the effect of pretraining on the rats' performances. The second experiment used a different pretraining method to control against any interference. The results showed that there was no serial-position effect. The least number of errors were observed at the doors that were adjacent to the maze walls. This suggest that the rats used spatial cues to learn the specific route of the maze.
