Serial Position Effect
The serial position effect states "users have a tendency to best remember the first and last items in a series." Having the least important items in the middle of the lists can be helpful because these items are stored less frequently in long-term and wor
Written by: Prince Pal
Your UI/UX Designer. Consultant. Partner. Over the past 18 years, I designed websites and apps for enterprise-level clients like Stanford-HCI Research, Accenture, Juniper Networks, Gemalto, Virtual Dental Care & much more.
A
- AB Testing
- Above The Fold
- Acceptance Criteria
- Accessibility
- Accordion
- Adaptive Design
- Adobe XD
- Advanced Prototype
- Affinity Diagram / Affinity Map
- Agile Software Development
- Aliasing / Anti-Aliasing
- Alignment
- ALT Text
- Analogous Colors
- Analytics
- Android App
- Angular
- Animation Design
- Anomalous Trichromats
- Anthropometry
- API
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Ascender
- Assistive Technology
- Audit
- Augmented Reality (AR)
- Auto Complete
- Auto Correct
- Avatar
C
- Cache
- Call-To-Action
- Canonic Perspective
- Card Sorting
- Cascading Menus
- Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
- Case Study
- Causation
- Charts
- Chatbot
- Checkbox
- Chromostereopsis
- Chunking
- Click Dummy
- Click Stream
- Cognitive Biases
- Cognitive Friction
- Cognitive Load
- Cognitive Processing
- Cognitive Walkthrough
- Color Palette
- Color Theory
- Color Wheel
- Combo Boxes
- Command Line Interface
- Commits
- Competitor Analysis
- Complementary Colors
- Concept Sketch
- Concept Sprint
- Consistency
- Content Design
- Content Management System (CMS)
- Content Strategy
- Context Effect
- Context Sensitive Popup Menu
- Contextual Inquiry
- Contrast
- Conversational Interface
- Conversion Rate
- Cookies
- Corporate Identity
- Correlation
- Counters
- Critique
- CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
- Cross Checking (Cross Validation)
- Customer Experience (CX)
- Customer-Centric
D
- Dark Pattern/Dark UX
- Dashboard
- Data Collection
- Data Science
- Data-Driven Design
- Date/Time Picker
- Decision Matrix
- Demographic
- Descender
- Design Deliverables
- Design Exercise
- Design Facilitation
- Design Patterns
- Design Sprint
- Design System
- Design Thinking
- Design Validation
- Design Verification
- Detailed Design
- Deuteranopia
- Developers
- Dialogue
- Diary Study
- Dichromats
- Direct User Data
- Disabled (Button / Control)
- Django Web Framework
- Docker
- Domain Expertise
- Döner Menu Icon
- Dot Voting
- Dribbble
- Drop-Down List Box
- Dropdown Buttons
- Dropdown/Dropdown Lists
E
- E2E Tests
- Early Adopters
- Early Prototype Testing
- Edge Case
- Efficiency
- Empathy
- Empathy Map
- End User
- Engagement
- Environmental Profile
- Ergonomics
- Error Analysis
- Error Detection
- Error Handling
- Error of Commission / Error of Omission
- Error Rate
- Ethical Design
- Ethnographic Study
- Ethnography
- Executive Champion
- Expectancy Test
- Experience Architecture
- Experience Design
- Explicit Save
- Eye Ball Tracking
I
- Iconography
- Ideation
- Image Map
- Inclusive Design
- Index Page
- Indirect User Data
- Industrial Design
- Infographics
- Information Architecture (IA)
- Informational Components
- Input Control
- Interaction Design (IxD)
- Interaction Designer
- Intuitive Design
- Inverted Pyramid Writing
- Invision Studio
- Ionic
- iOS App
- IP Address
- Irregular Shapes
- Iteration
- Iterative Design
- Iterative Testing
L
- Labels on website
- Landing Page
- Late Adopters
- Law of Common Region
- Law of Prägnanz
- Law of Proximity
- Law of Similarity
- Law of Uniform Connectedness
- Layout Graphic
- Leading
- Lean UX
- Learnability
- Legibility in design
- Likert Scale
- Line-height
- Line Length
- Linux
- Liquid Layout
- List Box
- Live Site Analysis
- Lo-Fi Prototypes
- Load Time
- Loader or Loading Bar
- Localization
- Logo
- Long Tail Keywords
- Look & Feel
- Luminance
P
- Padding
- Page Flow
- Page Types
- Pagination
- Pain-Points
- Pairing Designing
- Paper Prototype
- Paradox of Choice
- Paradox of Specificity
- Parkinson’s Law
- Pattern Recognition
- Peak-End Rule
- Persona
- Phi Phenomenon
- Pixel Density
- Pluralistic Walkthrough
- Practicality Test
- Preference Data
- Presentation Design
- Product Designer
- Product Management
- Product Roadmap
- Production Environment
- Progress Bar
- Progressive Disclosure
- Progressive Web Application (PWA)
- Prototype
- Proximity Principle
- Proxy PO
- Psychodynamics
- Psychographics
- Pull Request
- Python
R
- Radio Button
- Rapid Prototyping
- Rating Scales
- ReactNative
- Readability
- Reading Grade Level (RGL)
- Recall and Recognition
- Remote Usability Test
- Representative Sampling
- Requirements-gathering
- Research and Planning
- Resolution
- Responsive Web Design
- REST API
- Retention
- Retro
- Return On Investment (ROI)
- Reverse Card Sort
- Review
S
- SaaS
- Saccades
- Sans Serif
- Satisficing
- Saturated Color
- Scannability
- Scenario
- Schema (Pl. Schemata)
- Screen Readers
- Scrum Master and Scrum Artifacts
- SDK (Software Development Kit )
- Search Field
- Segments
- SEO
- Serial Position Effect
- Serif
- Service Design
- Sidebar
- Sitemap
- Sketch
- Slack
- Slider
- Small Field Tritanopia
- Software
- Source Code
- Spin Button
- Sprints
- Stakeholder Interviews
- Standards Design
- Statement of Work (SOW)
- Static Layout
- Storyboard
- Styleguide
- Summative Testing
- Survey
- SVG
- Switch or Toggle
- Symphony
U
- UI Design
- UI Element
- UI Kit
- Un-Moderated Usability Testing
- Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
- Unit Testing
- Usability Testing
- Use Case
- User Experience (UX)
- User Flow
- User Groups
- User Interface (UI)
- User Interview
- User Journey Map
- User Onboarding
- User Profile
- User Research
- User Satisfaction
- User Scenario
- User Stories
- User Testing
- User-Centered Design (UCD)
- UX Audit
- UX Documentation
- UX Portfolio
- UX Researcher
- UX Writing
- UX/UI Developer
Overview
The serial position effect states "users have a tendency to best remember the first and last items in a series." Having the least important items in the middle of the lists can be helpful because these items are stored less frequently in long-term and working memory. It describes how our memory is affected by the position of the elements in a sequence.
The serial position effect is the intellectual tendency to remember the first and last items in a list better than others in the middle. The ordinal position effect is a form of cognitive bias and includes both the primacy effect and the recency effect.
This suggests that we best remember the first and last items in a series and find it difficult to remember the middle items. Placing key actions on the leftmost and rightmost sides of elements such as navigation can increase recall.
LET’S WORK TOGETHER
Need help developing a similar project?
Book a call with us and get the party started!
Book A Demo