What Should
We Remember.
Memory isn't a recording — it's a reconstruction, shaped by what we paid attention to, what mattered most, and what came last. The biases below are why interviews wander, why endings count, and why one bright moment can carry an entire product.
The recall patterns you should know.
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Peak–End Rule
We remember the peak moment and the ending — most of the rest blurs.
Serial Position Effect
First and last items in a list outlive everything in the middle.
Picture Superiority
Images are remembered far better than the words next to them.
Rosy Retrospection
Past experiences sweeten in memory — interviews lie a little.
Spacing Effect
We learn better in spaced doses than in a single cram session.
Von Restorff Effect
The odd-one-out is the one users remember.
Context-Dependent Memory
We recall things best in the environment we learned them in.
Zeigarnik Effect
Incomplete tasks stay active in memory — finished ones fade quickly.
Misinformation Effect
Post-event information silently rewrites what we remember.
Mere Exposure Effect
Familiarity breeds preference — we like what we've encountered before.
Three other ways minds bend.
Too Much
Information
Too Much
Information
There's too much to process. We filter — and the filtering is where bias creeps in.
Not Enough
Meaning
Not Enough
Meaning
Stories, patterns, and confident-sounding causes filling in the gaps.
Need to
Act Fast
Need to
Act Fast
Decisions made before the picture is complete — and how to design for them.