Serial Position Effect: Primacy & Recency Memory Buffer

This simulator reproduces the classic U-shaped serial position curve from free-recall memory research. A study list of words enters a limited-capacity rehearsal buffer one item at a time; items that stay in the buffer longest build stronger long-term memory traces, which is the mechanistic root of the primacy effect, while the last few items still resident in the buffer at test time carry a separate, fast-decaying short-term activation that produces the recency effect. Adjust list length, presentation rate, recall delay and buffer capacity to watch the curve reshape in real time — including the textbook finding that a filled recall delay wipes out recency while leaving primacy intact.