The Von Restorff effect, also known as the isolation effect, predicts that when a person is presented with a list of similar items, the one item that differs from the rest is more likely to be remembered. It was developed by the German psychiatrist and pediatrician Hedwig von Restorff, whose 1933 research demonstrated that people show improved memory for a distinctly different item when it appears among otherwise similar items on a list.
Facts
Core ClaimWhen multiple homogeneous stimuli are presented, the stimulus that differs from the rest is more likely to be remembered. 1 Sources
1. Wikipedia: Von Restorff effect
Wikimedia FoundationLead section, sentence naming von Restorff and her 1933 study
The theory was coined by German psychiatrist and pediatrician Hedwig von Restorff (1906-1962), who, in her 1933 study, found that when participants were presented with a list of categorically similar items with one distinctive, isolated item on the list, memory for the item was improved.
Lead section, sentence defining the distinctive item effect
when multiple homogeneous stimuli are presented, the stimulus that differs from the rest is more likely to be remembered.
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