‘Sleep on It’: Effects of Sleep and Serial Position on the Recall of Imagined Events

Prakash, Prajwal (2025) ‘Sleep on It’: Effects of Sleep and Serial Position on the Recall of Imagined Events. Master thesis, Psychology.

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Abstract

The serial-position effect, enhanced recall for items presented at the beginning (primacy) and end (recency) of a list, is a well-established phenomenon in memory research. When recalling word lists, participants typically show better memory for early and late list items than for those presented in the middle. However, it is currently unclear whether such serial-position effects also occur in episodic memory, particularly in contexts that involve remembering a sequence of imagined events. The present study investigated whether serial-position effects emerge in imagined episodic events and whether these effects are modulated by retention interval and sleep duration during the delay. Participants completed an event-imagination task using image triads consisting of a face, an object, and a location. Memory for the associations was tested immediately and again after a 12-hour delay. Half of the participants slept during the delay, with sleep monitored using actigraphy. Contrary to predictions, memory accuracy followed an inverted-U shape, with superior recall for mid-sequence items rather than the expected primacy and recency effects. No significant effects of sleep were found. These findings raise new questions about how imagined event sequences are encoded and retrieved, and highlight the need for future research on serial-position effects in naturalistic episodic memory paradigms. Keywords: episodic memory, serial-position effect, primacy, recency, sleep, memory consolidation

Item Type:	Thesis (Master)
Supervisor name:	Nieuwenstein, M.R. and Kruijne, W.
Degree programme:	Psychology
Differentiation route:	Cognitive Psychology and Psychophysiology (CPP) [Master Psychology]
Date Deposited:	12 Aug 2025 14:08
Last Modified:	12 Aug 2025 14:08
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5846

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