AP Psychology › Theories on Memory
When asked to recall a list of ten items, a person influenced by the recency effect but not the primacy effect would most likely accurately recall which of the following?
Items 7, 8, 9, and 10
Items 4, 5, 6, and 7
Items 1, 2, 3, and 4
Items 1, 2, 9, and 10
Items 2, 5, 7, and 10
The recency effect refers to a tendency to better recall the last items of a list, possibly because they are stored in a person's short-term memory; the primacy effect refers to a tendency to better recall the earliest items of a list, possibly because the person has had additional time to rehearse each one as it enters his/her long-term memory.