Lastnitvo

Lastnitvo is a term used in narrative theory and cognitive psychology to describe a specific bias in how people reconstruct sequences after exposure. The concept holds that individuals disproportionately weight the final portion of a sequence when forming an overall judgment or memory of the event, overemphasizing end segments relative to earlier components.

Origin and etymology: The term appears to be a neologism coined in the early 2010s by researchers exploring memory biases. Its exact etymology is unclear; "last" clearly refers to ending, while "-nitvo" is a coined suffix not tied to existing semantic roots.

Mechanisms and evidence: In laboratory tasks, participants asked to rate sequences according to satisfaction or coherence tended to rate sequences higher or lower depending on the quality of the ending portion. The effect persists across modalities, including text, video, and interactive tasks. Some studies suggest lastnitvo interacts with mood and expectancy.

Implications and applications: In storytelling and film, endings can disproportionately affect audience memory and evaluation. In user interface design or education, placing critical information toward the end of a sequence may have outsized impact on final assessments.

Criticism and status: Lastnitvo remains debated; replication attempts have produced mixed results, and some scholars view it as a contextualized bias rather than a universal principle. Further research is ongoing to clarify under which conditions the effect is robust and how it interacts with individual differences.