Why First and Last Impressions Dominate The information you present first and the information you present last will be remembered far better than anything in the middle. This is the primacy-recency effect, one of the most robust findings in cognitive psychology and one of the most strategically useful for persuasive communication. The middle of your message, presentation, or argument is where information goes to be forgotten. The beginning and end are where you make lasting impressions that shape judgment and drive decisions. Understanding this changes everything about how you structure communication. The primacy effect is the disproportionate influence of information...