The tendency for earlier presented information to be better remembered than later information is known as what?

The phenomenon where earlier presented information is better remembered than later information is referred to as the primacy effect. This effect occurs because the initial items in a list often receive more attention and rehearsal, which enhances encoding into long-term memory. When people learn information that is presented sequentially, they tend to recall the first few items more effectively because they have had more processing time compared to items presented later. This emphasis on the beginning of a list creates a robust retrieval advantage, allowing those items to be accessed more easily during recall tasks.

On the other hand, the recency effect, which is not the correct answer, involves the tendency to remember the most recently presented items better, highlighting how memory can be influenced by different positions in a sequence. Proactive interference relates to older memories interfering with the learning or recall of new information, and the imagery effect concerns how visualizing information can improve memory recall.