Photo by Eric Park on Unsplash

Have you ever visited an art gallery, with all its amazing artworks lining the walls? As you walk through the exhibition, you will notice the careful arrangement of the artworks and how they evoke different emotions and leave a lasting impression.

When you walk into an art gallery, your eyes are naturally drawn to the first artwork you see and it sets the tone for the entire exhibition. This artwork can influence how you perceive and experience the rest of the exhibition. As you walk through an art gallery, the artworks further lined up are carefully arranged to create a memorable and transformative experience and it will lead you on a visual and emotional journey. The last artwork you see in a gallery will stay with you, becoming a topic of conversation and a cherished memory.

But did you know that there has been a psychological aspect of the human behind all this preparation of lining up all the artworks?

Artists and curators understand this psychological aspect of the human and the influence of the Serial Position Effect. They carefully place each piece of art to create a memorable experience for visitors. They know that people are more likely to remember the first and last things they see, so they strategically place the most important artwork in those locations. The first artwork is carefully chosen to capture your attention and spark your curiosity, while the last artwork is set to leave a long-lasting impression.

The serial position effect, a term coined by Herman Ebbinghaus, describes how the position of an item in a sequence affects recall accuracy. When asked to recall a list of items in any order (free recall), people tend to begin to recall at the end of the list, recalling those items best (the recency effect). Among earlier list items, the first few items are recalled more frequently than the middle items (the primacy effect).

The two concepts involved, the primacy effect and the recency effect, explain how items presented at the beginning of a sequence and the end of a sequence are recalled with greater accuracy than items in the middle of a list.

One suggested reason for the primacy effect is that the initial items presented are most effectively stored in long-term memory because a greater amount of time for processing is devoted to them. (The first list item can be rehearsed by itself; the second must be rehearsed along with the first, the third along with the first and second, and so on.). The primacy effect also relates to another cognitive bias: the anchoring effect.

An anchoring bias is a tendency to make judgments and evaluations based on the initial information we receive about a subject. As a result, we rely too heavily on the first information in forming an opinion and neglect subsequent details that could be just as helpful.

The primacy effect is “reduced” when items are presented quickly and “enhanced” when presented slowly (factors that reduce and enhance the processing of each item and thus permanent storage). Longer presentation lists have been found to reduce the primacy effect.

The recency effect is reduced when an interfering task is given. Intervening tasks involve working memory, as the distractor activity, if exceeding 15 to 30 seconds in duration, can cancel out the recency effect.

Amnesiacs with poor ability to form permanent long-term memories do not show a primacy effect but do show a recency effect if recall comes immediately after the study People with Alzheimer’s disease exhibit a reduced primacy effect but do not produce a recency effect in the recall.

This phenomenon of using the “serial position effect” is often seen in restaurant menus, online shopping, real estate etc and designers used this phenomenon in designing digital applications as well.

Adobe’s Creative Cloud sale is featured prominently at the top of the page in both the hero image and a blue banner above the navigation menu.

Source: What Is the Serial Position Effect?

Instagram places its most important buttons in the most visible locations. such as the “direct message” button being placed in the upper right-hand corner to give more emphasis and to save space in the bottom nav bar which is already full.

Positioning key actions on the far left and right within elements such as navigation can increase memorization that’s why in most applications, the “Home” icon is placed on the first and another important icon such as the “User Profile/Account” is mostly placed on the left.

Source: What Is the Serial Position Effect?

Cognitive scientists Murray Glanzer and Anita Cunitz (1966) through their item recall test also concluded that the capacity of human short term memory is likely to be three to four chunks of information at one time.

Apps like Spotify, Instagram and Twitter use 4–5 elements in the bottom nav bar not to go beyond the capacity of human short-term memory.

What is the difference between the peak-end rule & serial position effect?

Peak end rule focuses on various highs and lows in an experience. it not only focuses on the first & last moment but also on peaks in the middle of that experience whereas the serial position effect focuses on the first and the last parts of the event, subject etc. That’s why it is also related to the primacy & recency effect.

You can read more about it here: on the link: Laws of UX Series

Source: Laws of UX Series

Some resources to learn more about the topic

And… That’s a wrap!

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