Question

Why are we able to recall the last few words a professor has said in lecture, even if we were not paying attention to them? (tell the types of memories being used, etc)

Answer 1

The fact that we are able to either recall the first few words or the last few words of a lecture is linked to the primary and recency effect of memory. This means that when a stimuli is given to an individual for the purpose of encoding or storing in the memory, the initial aspect of the stimulus or the last aspect is likely to be a more potent form of memory in the brain. This is researched and proven that the primary and recency effect tend to play a role in the memory, i.e. whatever is initially exposed or towards the end of the stimulus exposure has a greater chance or greater likelihood to be remembered than others (the ones in the middle).