Normalizing serial position analyses: The Proportional Accountability algorithm

Abstract

We compare the oft-cited Wing & Baddeley approach for normalizing serial position errors with an approach that we believe more accurately reflects the underlying process. We argue that the Wing & Baddeley approach inadequately normalizes the allocation of errors to each serial position, and that a number of seminal publications have inadvertently referred to biased results as a consequence.

Keywords:

• Graphemic buffer
• Spelling
• Serial position