Have you ever been asked to memorize a list of items?
Or just been given a list of items that you tried to remember?
This is due to something researchers refer to as the “primacy effect.”
Verywell / Jessica Olah
What Is the Primacy Effect?
This is acognitive biasthat is believed to relate to the tendency to rehearse and relate memory storage systems.
Causes of the Primacy Effect
What are the precise causes of the primacy effect?
Rehearsal
The main cause is likely the fact that people tend to rehearse items for remember them.
Attention Span
There’s also a second reason related to attention span.
Memory Limitations
Finally, the primacy effect likely persists because of limits in memory.
The results showed that the second description led to the person being rated more highly.
Each word was presented with a one or two-second gap in between.
Using free recall, they were then asked to remember the words.
This study showed that the probability of recalling words on the list depended on their position on the list.
Specifically, those at the beginning and the end were remembered more often.
The study results showed that preventing rehearsal in this way meant that both the primacy and recency effects disappeared.
This might come into play when making a large purchase or an important decision in our lives.
Marketing experts are aware of this cognitive bias and use it to their advantage.
They want your first impression and the last impression of a product to be positive.
This is why you will see advertising for a product that is not yet available.
It is also why a company will add extra finishing touches such as special packaging for a product.
They want your first impression and last impression to be positive because these are the things that will matter.
It’s important to be aware of this if you are making acomplex decision.
This will make it less likely that you will fall prey to advertising and marketing strategies.
Research has also shown that it can have an effect on how doctors diagnose and treat illnesses accurately.
This is when it is most likely to be remembered.
This makes logical sense, but it’s not something you’d typically think about.
What do you remember most from this article?
Step away for a moment and give a shot to list the main points you remember.
Then test whether you have also become an example of the primacy effect in action in your own life.
