Definition
The primacy effect is the tendency for individuals without neurological impairment to show enhanced memory for items presented at the beginning of a list relative to items presented in the middle of the list. At test, items presented at the beginning of a list are retrieved from long-term or secondary memory stores. The primacy effect, therefore, is affected by factors influencing long-term memory ability, such as attentional resources, opportunities for rehearsal, and neurodegenerative processes including Alzheimer’s disease. The primacy effect is part of the larger serial position effect.
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References and Readings
Tulving, E., & Craik, F. I. M. (Eds.). (2000). The Oxford handbook of memory. New York: Oxford University Press.
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Troyer, A.K. (2011). Primacy Effect. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_1141
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_1141
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
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