Primacy and Recency Effects

We disproportionately remember and weight what comes first and last in a sequence — while the middle is largely forgotten, regardless of its importance.

• The first and last items on a menu are ordered most frequently; middle items are systematically overlooked regardless of quality.
• In job interviews, the first and last candidates are evaluated more accurately and favorably than those interviewed in the middle of the day.
• A speech is remembered for its opening line and its closing — the middle arguments, however substantive, largely vanish from memory.