What will happen if presentation time is sped up during a memory task?

When presentation time is sped up during a memory task, the primacy effect may decrease. The primacy effect refers to the improved recall of items presented at the beginning of a list due to increased opportunity for rehearsal and encoding into long-term memory.

When items are presented more quickly, participants have less time to rehearse these initial items compared to slower presentations. This reduces the likelihood that these items will be transferred into long-term memory, leading to a decrease in the effectiveness of the primacy effect. Conversely, the recency effect, which relates to items at the end of a list, might still be maintained because these items are still fresh in short-term memory, even with rapid presentation.

The implications of speeding up presentation times highlight the significance of rehearsal time for memory encoding. Rehearsal is essential for transferring information from short-term to long-term memory, and when this is constrained, the performance on recalling earlier items is particularly impacted.