Which term refers to the ability to recall the last items in a list most effectively?

The term that refers to the ability to recall the last items in a list most effectively is known as Recency Effects. This phenomenon is part of the broader concept of the serial position effect, which describes how people tend to remember items at the beginning (primacy effect) and the end (recency effect) of a list better than those in the middle.

Recency effects occur because the last items presented are still fresh in short-term memory. When individuals are asked to recall items shortly after being exposed to them, they often find it easier to remember the last few items because they haven't been displaced by other information in memory. This immediate recall is influenced by the brief retention capabilities of working memory.

Understanding this concept is essential for grasping how memory processes work and how different factors—like order of presentation—can affect recall. In contrast, primacy effects relate to better recall of earlier items, while long-term memory and working memory refer to different types of memory storage rather than the specific recall of items based on their position within a list.