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The Next-in-Line Effect

Malcolm Brenner (1973) - Memory Failure Under Performance Pressure

You forget what was said RIGHT BEFORE your turn to speak!

In 1973, psychologist Malcolm Brenner discovered something striking: when people sit in a circle reading words aloud, they show a dramatic memory deficit for words read by others immediately before their own turn.

The effect persists even when people are told to pay close attention. Your brain is so busy preparing for your upcoming performance that it fails to encode what's happening around you.

Experience the Effect

You're sitting in a circle with 4 other people. Each person will read a word aloud in turn. You are Person 3 (in green). Try to remember ALL the words!

Which words did you hear in Round 1?

Click all the words you remember from this round:

Your Results

Recall Accuracy by Position (relative to YOUR turn)

The Critical Finding

0%
Right BEFORE your turn
0%
Other positions

Why Does This Happen?

Encoding Failure: Your brain's attention and memory encoding resources are consumed by anticipating your upcoming performance. The information presented just before your turn literally never makes it into long-term memory.

Two Mechanisms:

  • Attention Distraction: Your cognitive resources shift to preparing what you'll say
  • Retrograde Amnesia: The anticipatory anxiety disrupts consolidation of recent memories

Real-World Impact: This affects meetings, classroom discussions, presentations, and any situation where people take turns speaking. The person who just spoke before you? You probably won't remember what they said.

Brenner, M. (1973). "The next-in-line effect." Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 12(3), 320-323.