Question
Research has shown that individuals often have better recall for items near the end of an ordered list. This research finding is referred to as: a. the recency effect b. the primacy effect c. the massed practice effect d. the spacing effect
Answer
3.9
(233 Votes)
Bernice
Master · Tutor for 5 years
Answer
a
Explanation
When individuals demonstrate a better recall for items ending a list, it is identified as the recency effect. Successive exposure to events or items creates a temporary, easily accessible memory of these items stored in the short-term memory. This phenomena contrast to the primacy effect which is described as better recall for items at the beginning of a list, which are more easily transferred to long-term memory storage. Both the recency effect and the primacy effect are components of the serial position effect which portrays a tendency of a person to recall the first and last items in a series best, and the middle items worst. The other choices, the massed practice effect and the spacing effect, have a different context: the massed practice effect points to the outcome of learning in a single, extended study time, and the spacing effect proposes that learning is more effectively facilitated when study sessions are spaced out rather than massed together. It's important to note that the spacing effect has been found to generalize across a wwide range of stimuli and retention intervals.