The Recency Effect describes the phenomenon that people remember the last perceived information better than earlier content. This is because more recent information is still present in short-term memory and can therefore be retrieved more easily.

The Recency Effect is part of the Serial Position Effect, which states that information at the beginning (Primacy Effect) and at the end of a sequence is particularly well remembered.

Origin

  • Murdock, B. B. (1962). The Serial Position Effect of Free Recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64(5), 482–488.
  • Atkinson, R. C., & Shiffrin, R. M. (1968). Human Memory: A Proposed System and Its Control Processe». In Spence, K. W., & Spence, J. T. (Eds.), *The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Advances in Research and Theory*, Vol. 2, Academic Press.

Application in UX and UI design

The Recency Effectis particularly relevant for user guidance, information structuring and decision-making processes in UX and UI design. Since people remember the content they perceive last, designers can use this principle to position important information in a targeted manner.

Impact on the User Experience

strong

Further information