Which memory phenomenon describes better recall for items at the end of a list?

• A. Primacy Effect
• B. Recency Effect
• C. Interference
• D. Spreading Activation

Answer: (B)

Recency effect is the tendency to recall the last items on a list better because they’re still in short-term memory when recall begins. As you read or listen, those final items stay fresh in your working memory, so you can retrieve them more easily right after the list ends. If there’s a delay or some activity between listing and recall, this advantage often fades as those items drop from short-term memory.

The first items are often recalled well too, but for a different reason: primacy effect, which comes from more rehearsal and transfer into long-term memory. Interference involves competing information that disrupts memory, not specifically the position of items in a list. Spreading activation is about how activation spreads through related concepts in a memory network, not about remembering list endings.