Recency effect: what is it and how does it affect memory

Consider a presentation we attended on psychology, for example. When you leave the presentation, what do you think you will remember best, the information at the beginning, the middle, or the end?

Well, curiously, and if the presentation is not very long, you will remember better the initial information and the final information. In this article we will talk about the latter case, the so-called recency effect.

• Related article: "Types of memory: how does the human brain store memories?"

Recency effect: what is it?

As we saw in the example, when we are exposed to a certain amount of information, our capacity for attention and memory it is higher at the beginning; decays in the middle and grows back at the end.

The recency effect occurs when the information provided at the end is the one we remember best. This refers to short-term memory. However, when the information that is best remembered is the one that was at the beginning, then we are talking about the primacy effect.

Word lists

But the recency effect appears in other paradigms or situations, and, in fact, when memory began to be studied short-term, experiments were used based on the serial learning technique (for example, remembering lists of words). Through this test, it was found that

the probability of remembering an item varied depending on its position in the list.

The recency effect refers to the fact that the last items on the list are better remembered in comparison with initial position items (that is, the first items heard or read in the proof; the so-called primacy effect).

Using lists and using the free recall technique (where the subject is asked what words he remembers), the recency effect was discovered.

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Daily life

However, and as we have seen at the beginning of the article, the recency effect can be extrapolated to other everyday life situations, which imply that we "remember" certain information. In other words, it is a broader concept than the simple act of “remembering the last items in a list” (although it also includes the latter).

Thus, following this principle, things learned or heard more recently are remembered more and better. On the contrary, the more time passes between the information heard (or seen, read, etc.), and the evocation of said information (asking the subject to evoke it), the more difficult it will be for it to occur. That is, the less likely it is that you will remember such information.

For example, if we ask a student about a topic the same afternoon that she has finished studying it, it will be a lot more likely to remember the subject and know how to explain it, than if we asked it the next morning or afternoon following.

Another example is that it is easier to remember a phone number dialed a few minutes ago than a number we dialed the day before. These are examples that illustrate the recency effect.

Academic scope

In this way, we see how the latest information we acquire is generally more memorable for us, we remember her better. On the other hand, it is known that reviewing the information frequently, as well as using summaries, helps to fix the material or information in the mind, and therefore to more easily evoke the information when asked (to remember best).

We can apply the recency effect in academia and learning; for example, determining the temporal sequence of the classes, lessons or subjects to be taught, according to the importance within the school year.

Research

The phenomenon of the recency effect, together with the primacy effect also commented, have been interpreted following Atkinson's and Shiffrin's multi-warehouse model (1968). According to this model, these effects reflect the operations of two independent memory systems: the short-term memory (in the case of the recency effect) and long-term memory (the effect of primacy).

This happens because, if we think of a list of “X” words that read to us (for example 10) and that we must remember, when asking ourselves about it, it happens that:

1. Primacy effect

We better remember the first words on the list (This is due to long-term memory, because several seconds, even minutes, have already passed since we heard the words.)

2. Recency effect

We also better remember the last words on the list (Due to short-term memory, since it includes a few seconds from when the words were heard until they asked us about them).

Pathologies

In some pathological populations it has been found that the recency effect (in serial learning tasks) is more preponderant than the primacy effect. These populations have been people with amnesias of various etiologies and in people with dementia Alzheimer's type.

Bibliographic references:

• Garzon, A. and Seoane J. (1982). Memory from information processing.
• De Vega, M. (1990). Introduction to cognitive psychology. Psychology Alliance. Madrid.
• Martín, M.E. et al. (2013). Relevance of the serial position effect in the differential diagnosis between mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's dementia and normal aging. ScienceDirect, Neurology, 28 (4), 219-225.