Recency effect

Have you ever had a list recited to you and then only been able to remember the last items? For example, with shopping lists, telephone numbers… If it has happened to you, it is because you have experienced the recency effect.

Memory is a phenomenon as complex as it is interesting and harbors great mysteries that neuroscience is still trying to solve. According to the researcher José Luis Díaz (2009), the word memory indicates ‘any material or instrument that allows storing and retrieving information‘. Memory plays an essential role in our lives: it allows us to learn, recognize, interactgive meaning to what we have experienced and, above all, it shapes our identity.

What does the recency effect consist of, specifically? How is this phenomenon related to memory? Are there other similar effects? We’ll answer all of these questions (and more!) here.

Recency effect: what is it?

The recency effect is a phenomenon that appears when we receive some type of information and we only store in memory the information provided at the end of the message. That is, we memorize only what we have heard at the end (the last words, numbers, phrases…), which remains in short-term memory. This phenomenon can vary from one person to another.

This effect causes us to remember more accurately the last data in a list of information.. For this reason, when they dictate a telephone number to us, for example, the last numbers remain “recorded” in our memory and sometimes we cannot remember the rest.

According to Alan David Baddeley (1934 – Leeds, United Kingdom), British psychologist and great memory researcher, the recency effect “it’s a term used to describe enhanced memory of the last items presented“ (Baddeley, 2003). Thus, since the most recently presented information occupies the “last position” in short-term memory, the listener remembers it more easily.

What is the recency effect due to?

As we said, The recency effect has a lot to do with short-term memory. According to Ignacio Morgado (2005), “Short-term memory is a system for storing a limited amount of information (usually less than a dozen digits) for a short period of time“.

That is, it is an immediate memory for those stimuli that have just been perceived. According to Morgado, we are talking about a fragile memory (it is vulnerable to any type of interference) and ephemeral, which fades very quickly.

Short-term memory and working memory

In turn, short-term memory (STM) has to do with working memory (WM); the latter evolved from the former (although they are sometimes used interchangeably). In working memory there is a combination of storage and manipulation of information (Baddeley, 2012).

That is to say, MT allows us to manipulate the information we have in mind for a few seconds and use it when the task requires it. In contrast, MCP involves only a retention of information (although some authors suggest that MCP and MT are the same). In this way, the recency effect is related to MCP and WM, which allow us to remember the last digits, words or items memorized or heard.

Applications of the recency effect

The recency effect is taken into account, above all, in public exhibitions (during classes, conferences…); If the speakers are aware of this phenomenon, they will know that they must take maximum care of the final message of the presentation (or the last sentences of each section). This will be useful, since the public tends to internalize messages heard last more easilythanks to the recency effect.

On the other hand, knowing this effect can also be very useful for politicians or people who must deliver speeches to a large audience. This way, speakers will put more emphasis on messages at the end of speech; Furthermore, they will take advantage of those moments to say what they want to resonate most with the public (or what is most important).

Differences with the primacy effect

We have known the recency effect, but… And the primacy effect? What does it consist of and how is it different from the recency effect? Well then, In the primacy effect, just the opposite occurs; people remember information provided at the beginning of the message better.

One of their differences is that the primacy effect has to do with long-term memory, while the recency effect has to do with short-term memory. However, both can be useful to us!

Human memory: A great unknown?

Memory remains mysterious in many ways, although science has made great progress in this field of knowledge. Knowing the nature of the different types of memory, as well as their characteristics and effects, can help us manage it more effectively. Furthermore, investing in this care allows us to take advantage of some of its particularities, such as the recency effect.

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