Serial-Position Effect

     The serial-position effect, coined by Hermann Ebbinghaus, states that items at the beginning and end of a list are most likely to be recalled. This is known as the primacy effect and recency effect, respectively. A possible reason for the primacy effect is that the items at the beginning of the list are processed more successfully. This is supported by the fact that people who have trouble forming long-term memories show no primacy effect. A possible reason for the recency effect is that the items at the end of the list are still in the working memory. This is supported by the fact that the recency effect is less effective when the subject's working memory is distracted with another task immediately after reading the list.

Links:

http://peace.saumag.edu/faculty/kardas/courses/GPWeiten/C7Memory/Serial.html An example of a serial-position effect test

http://www.indiana.edu/~p1013447/dictionary/serpos.htm More graphs showing the serial-position effect

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/the-primacy-and-recency-effect-and-your-next-purchase/ serial-position effect applied to marketing

http://io9.com/5983832/how-a-simple-to+do-list-can-let-you-get-away-with-anything serial-position effect applied to social situations

http://cat.xula.edu/thinker/memory/working/serial An online serial-position effect test

http://baymard.com/blog/serial-position-effect serial-position effect applied to web design

http://quizlet.com/5086765/lecture-3-serial-position-effect-flash-cards/ Flashcards for serial-position effect and related terms

http://scienceofeducation2013.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/the-role-of-the-serial-position-effect-and-sleep-in-improving-memory-blog-7-week-8-18th-march/ Optimizing memory with serial-position effect and sleep

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsZKBsy6yDw A video on serial-position effect

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psOtPH9bFVU Another video on serial-position effect

Wiki created by Derek Wojcik