Serial Position Effects

A phenomenon of memory in which items presented at the beginning and end of a list are more likely to be recalled than items in the middle of a list.

Serial position effects occur when people try to recall items from a list; items at the beginning and end are better recalled than the items in the middle. The improved recall for items at the beginning of a list is called a primacy effect. The improved recall for items at the end of a list is called a recency effect.1

Primacy effects occur because the initial items in a list are stored in long-term memory more efficiently than items later in the list. In lists where items are rapidly presented, the primacy effect is weaker because people have less time to store the initial ...

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