Test the serial position effect
You'll see a list of words, one at a time. Try to remember as many as you can.
After the list, type all the words you remember in any order.
What you're experiencing
The Serial Position Effect was discovered by Hermann Ebbinghaus through his memory experiments. It consists of two components: the primacy effect (better recall of first items) and the recency effect (better recall of last items).
First items benefit from more rehearsal time. Last items are still in short-term memory. Middle items get neither advantage.
UX implications:
- Place important items at the beginning or end of lists
- Put key navigation items at the start or end of menus
- In onboarding, emphasize first and final steps
- The middle of long lists is where attention dies
Example: In a navigation menu with Home, Products, Services, About, Contact. Home and Contact will be remembered best.