Ovid J. L. Tzeng (1973) also found an instance where the recency effect in free recall did not seem to result from the function of a short-term memory store. Subjects were presented with four study-test periods of 10 word lists, with a continual distractor task (20-second period of counting-backward). At the end of each list, participants had to free recall as many words from the list as possible. After free-recall of the fourth list, participants were asked to free recall items from all four lists. Both the initial free recall and the final free recall showed a recency effect. These results went against the predictions of a short-term memory model, where no recency effect would be expected in either initial or final free recall.