Definitions for "Recency effect"
In a list, the better memory for words presented later in the list. go to glossary index
The tendency for the last information received to carry greater weight than earlier information.
In free recall, the tendency to recall items at the end of the list more readily than those in the middle. See also primacy effect (in free recall).
Error in which the rater gives greater weight to recent events when appraising an individual's performance.
The recency effect, in psychology, is a cognitive bias that results from disproportionate salience of recent stimuli or observations. For example, if a driver sees an equal total number of red cars as blue cars during a long journey, but there happens to be a glut of red cars at the end of the journey, he or she is likely to conclude that there were more red cars than blue cars throughout the drive.