What is the principle called that describes the phenomenon of recalling the first items in a list better than those in the middle?

The principle that describes the phenomenon of recalling the first items in a list better than those in the middle is known as the Primacy Effect. This effect occurs because the initial items in a list have a greater chance of being transferred into long-term memory. When we first encounter a list of information, the items at the beginning receive more cognitive resources and attention, often leading to stronger memory encoding. As we move further into the list, items may be lost to interference and the available cognitive resources become divided among more items.

In contrast to the Primacy Effect, the Recency Effect refers to the improved recall of the last items in a list, which can be attributed to the items still being in short-term memory. Retrieval Effects and Semantic Encoding are related to how information is retrieved from memory and the processes involved in encoding information meaningfully, respectively, but they do not specifically account for the enhanced recall of the initial items in a list.