The word length effect in backward recall: the role of response modality

In immediate serial recall, it is well known that participants are better at recalling short rather than long words. This benchmark memory effect, known as word length effect, has been observed numerous times in forward recall. However, in backward recall, when participants are required to recall items in the reverse order, contradictory findings have been reported. For instance, in some studies, the word length effect was abolished in backward …