Universal Principles of Design, Updated and Expanded Third Edition

168 Serial Position Effects

Things at the beginnings and ends of sequences are more memorable than things in the middle.

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

• Primacy effects—The initial items in a sequence are stored in long-term memory more efficiently than later items. When a sequence of items is rapidly presented, the primacy effect is weaker—people have less time to store the initial items in long-term memory. When a sequence of items is slowly presented, ...