What is serial position effect?

Serial position effect refers to the finding that the position of an item in a list can strongly influence its likelihood of being remembered. This cognitive phenomenon is commonly observed in memory experiments, where participants are presented with a list of items to remember. The serial position effect suggests that items presented at the beginning and end of the list, known as the primacy and recency effects respectively, are more likely to be remembered compared to items in the middle. The primacy effect is attributed to the longer rehearsal time and increased attention given to the first items, while the recency effect is due to the items being still present in the short-term memory. The phenomenon has important implications for understanding memory processes and has been extensively studied in fields such as psychology and neuroscience.

This mind map was published on 30 November 2023 and has been viewed 120 times.