# 52. Manipulation of Memory ## 52.5. Methodology/Refinements/Sub-species ### 52.5.27. Primacy effect, Recency effect and Serial position effect This effect describes the tendency that items near the end of a list are the easiest to recall, followed by the items at the beginning of a list; items in the middle are the least likely to be remembered. This effect is in use by advertisers and by political speech writers. Anything they wish to hide is placed in the middle of a list. Anything they wish to emphasise is at the beginning and end. See also: "[[Modality Effect]]".