Different stands out. Gets remembered.
Hedwig von Restorff's pioneering 1933 research demonstrated the pattern. Distinctive items within homogeneous sets? Achieve significantly superior memory retention.
Isolated items showing 30-50% better recall rates. Than surrounding similar items.
This isolation effect—where perceptual or conceptual distinctiveness creates stronger memory encoding and retrieval cues—provides foundational understanding. For designing interfaces. Where critical elements must capture attention. And remain memorable. Despite surrounding similar content.
The principle: Make important different. Use distinctiveness strategically. Not everywhere.
Von Restorff's original experiment presented participants with lists containing mostly similar items (numbers or words) with one distinctively different item isolated within the sequence. Results consistently showed that the isolated item achieved dramatically higher recall rates than surrounding similar items, establishing that distinctiveness serves as a powerful memory enhancement mechanism. Her research revealed that this effect operates independently of item position within sequences, distinguishing it from serial position effects.
Hunt's extensive subsequent research (1995) clarified misconceptions about the Von Restorff effect, demonstrating that distinctiveness operates through enhanced processing at encoding rather than simply through reduced interference at retrieval. His meta-analysis showed that distinctiveness effects emerge across multiple dimensions—perceptual (color, size, typography), spatial (isolation, positioning), semantic (conceptual category), and temporal (timing, duration)—making it applicable across diverse interface design contexts.
Nielsen Norman Group's practitioner research translates isolation effects into actionable design guidance. Their studies demonstrate that strategic visual distinctiveness improves task completion rates, reduces errors, and increases conversion for emphasized elements. However, their work also highlights a critical constraint: when everything is distinctive, nothing stands out. Effective application requires restraint—using distinctiveness selectively for truly important elements rather than creating visual competition through excessive emphasis.