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serial position effect
You only vividly remember the beginning and the end.
A 1962 experiment confirmed that memory recall is highest for items at the start and end of a list, with a significantly lower probability of recall for middle items.
The original text stated the middle items were 'routinely forgotten,' which implies zero retention, whereas the study demonstrates a significant statistical decrease in recall rates, not total omission.
You have a clear sense of how things start and finish, but the middle is a blur.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Bennet Murdock, 1962, Journal of Experimental Psychology
- What the check found
- While Murdock's 1962 paper is the seminal study for the serial position curve, the claim misrepresents the data by suggesting a total failure of recall for middle items rather than a relative reduction.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.