primary effect

British  

noun

1. psychol the process whereby the first few items on a list are learnt more rapidly than the middle items

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Example Sentences

The test required courts to consider whether the government practice being challenged had a secular purpose, whether its primary effect was to advance or inhibit religion, and whether it encouraged excessive government entanglement with religion.

From New York Times • Jun. 19, 2024

Shingles primarily affects older persons who have had such childhood diseases as chicken pox and the primary effect is painful rashes that last for weeks, though nerve pain can persist even longer than that.

From Washington Times • Mar. 2, 2023

The primary effect will be to allow some Venezuelan oil to flow back to the United States, "which will help the U.S. refining system," Wirth said.

From Reuters • Dec. 1, 2022

Yet for all Pink’s razzle-dazzle — and let me be clear in saying that this new aerial stunt was truly astounding — the primary effect of Friday’s production wasn’t practical or technological but emotional.

From Los Angeles Times • May 26, 2018

It is not perhaps generally known that the surroundings of most animals have a primary effect on the color of their hair.

From Canadian Wilds Tells About the Hudson's Bay Company, Northern Indians and Their Modes of Hunting, Trapping, Etc. by Hunter, Martin