People remember the peak and the ending, not the length
What they found
Memory of an experience is built almost entirely from its most intense moment and its final moments. How long it lasted barely registers.
How they know
Patients undergoing an uncomfortable medical procedure rated their discomfort minute by minute; afterwards, their remembered rating tracked the worst point and the end - not the duration.
What it means for you
Treat the last five minutes of a meeting as the meeting - a clear summary, a warm goodbye, the next step agreed. That is what the other person keeps.
The limits
First measured on discomfort, later replicated on pleasant experiences; strongest when experiences are judged from memory rather than lived minute by minute.
This is a short takeaway in our own words, not a reproduction of the study. For the method, the sample and the caveats, read the original.
