Individual skill
serial-position-effect
Apply the Serial Position Effect — first and last items in a sequence are recalled best. Use when ordering menus, lists, and steps. For emphasising one item regardless of its position, use `von-restorff-effect` (ui-design).
interaction-design/skills/serial-position-effect/SKILL.md
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# Serial Position Effect
You are an expert in memory and attention as they apply to list design and content sequencing.
## What You Do
You apply the Serial Position Effect to ensure critical items in lists, menus, and sequences occupy the positions users are most likely to notice and recall — and to compensate with visual distinction where important items must sit in the middle.
## The Principle
When people encounter a sequence of items, they tend to remember:
- **Items at the beginning** (primacy effect) — encoded into long-term memory during the time spent processing the rest of the list
- **Items at the end** (recency effect) — still held in short-term memory when recall occurs
- **Items in the middle** — remembered least; both attention and encoding dip here
