Levels of processing model: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:29, 15 July 2025

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{{Short description|A psychological model of memory}}

The '''levels-of-processing model''', created by [[Fergus I. M. Craik]] and Robert S. Lockhart in 1972, describes [[memory]] [[recollection|recall]] of [[Stimulus (physiology)|stimuli]] as a function of the depth of mental processing. More analysis produce more elaborate and stronger memory than lower levels of processing. Depth of processing falls on a shallow to deep continuum.{{cn|date=February 2024}} Shallow processing (e.g., processing based on [[phonemic]] and [[Orthography|orthographic]] components) leads to a fragile memory trace that is susceptible to rapid decay. Conversely, deep processing (e.g., [[semantic processing]]) results in a more durable memory trace.<ref>Craik, F. I. M., & Lockhart, R. S. (1972). Levels of processing: A framework for memory research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11(6), 671.<name="CL1972/ref> There are three levels of processing in this model. Structural processing, or visual, isprocessing wheninvolves we rememberremembering only the physical quality of the word (e.g. how the word is spelled and how letters look). Phonemic processing includes remembering the word by the way it sounds (e.g. the word tall rhymes with fall). Lastly, we havein semantic processing, in which weindividuals encode the meaning of the word with another word that is similar or has similar meaning. Once the word is perceived, the brain allows for a deeper processing.

This theory contradicts the multi-store [[Atkinson-Shiffrin memory model]] which represents memory strength as being continuously variable, the assumption being that rehearsal always improves [[long-term memory]]. They argued that rehearsal that consists simply of repeating previous analyses (maintenance rehearsal) doesn'tdoes not enhance long-term memory.<ref>{{cite book|author=Eysenck, M. (|year=2006). |chapter=Learning and Long-term memory. In |title=Fundamentals of cognition (|edition=Second ed.). |___location=Hove, England: |publisher=Psychology Press}}</ref>

In a study from 1975 (Craik and [[Endel Tulving|Tulving]]) participants were given a list of 60 words. Each word was presented along with three questions. The participant had to answer one of them. Those three questions were in one of three categories. One category of questions was about how the word was presented visually ("Is the word shown in ''italics''?"). The second category of questions was about the phonemic qualities of the word ("Does the word begin with the sound 'bee'?"). The third category of questions was presented so that the reader was forced to think about the word within a certain context. ("Can you meet one in the street [a friend]"?) The result of this study showed that the words which contained deep processing (the latter) were remembered better.<ref>{{citr journal|author1=Craik, F. I., & |author2=Tulving, E. (|name-list-style=amp|year=1975). |title=Depth of processing and the retention of words in episodic memory. ''|journal=Journal of experimental Psychology: general'', ''|volume=104''(|issue=3), |pp=268|doi=10.1037/0096-3445.104.3.268}}</ref>

==Modifiers==

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===Specificity of processing===

Specificity of processing describes the increased recall value of a stimulus when presented in the method with which it was inputted. For example, auditory stimuli (spoken words and sounds) have the highest recall value when spoken, and visual stimuli have the highest recall value when a subject is presented with images.<ref name = Vaidya2002>{{Cite journal| volume = 40| pages = 2136–2143| last = Vaidya| first = CJ |author2=Zhao M |author3=Desmond JE |author4=Gabrieli JDE | title = Evidence for cortical encoding specificity in episodic memory: memory-induced re-activation of picture processing areas | journal = Neuropsychologia | year = 2002 | url = http://web.mit.edu/gabrieli-lab/Publications/2002/Vaidya.Neuropsy.2002.pdf | doi = 10.1016/S0028-3932(02)00053-2 | pmid = 12208009| issue = 12 | s2cid = 17108548}}</ref> In writing tasks, words are recalled most effectively with semantic cues (asking for words with a particular meaning) if they are encoded semantically (self-generated by the subject as being related to a particular meaning). Words are recalled most effectively with data-driven cues (word completion) if they are read, rather than generated by a subject.<ref>{{Cite journal| volume = 15| issue = 4| pages = 657–668| last = Blaxton| first = TA| title = Investigating dissociations among memory measures: Support for a transfer-appropriate processing framework| journal = Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition | year = 1989| url = http://www.colby.edu/psychology/ps341fa06/papers/Blaxton,%201989.pdf | doi = 10.1037/0278-7393.15.4.657 }}</ref>

===Self-reference effect===

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===Implicit memory and levels-of-processing===

Implicit memory tests, in contrast with explicit memory tests, measure the recall value of a particular stimulus based on later performance on stimulus-related tasks. During these tasks, the subject does not explicitly recall the stimulus, but the previous stimulus still affects performance.<ref>{{Cite journal | volume = 45 | pages = 1043–1056 | last = Roediger | first = HL | title = Implicit memory: Retention without remembering | journal = American Psychologist | year = 1990 | doi = 10.1037/0003-066X.45.9.1043 | pmid = 2221571 | issue = 9 }}</ref> For example, in a word-completion implicit memory task, if a subject reads a list containing the word "dog", the subject provides this word more readily when asked for three-letter words beginning in "d". The levels-of-processing effect is only found for explicit memory tests. One study found that word completion tasks were unaffected by levels of semantic encodings achieved using three words with various levels of meaning in common.<ref>{{Cite journal | issn = 0002-9556 | volume = 102 | issue = 2 | pages = 151–181 | last = Schacter | first = DL |author2=McGlynn SM | title = Implicit memory: Effects of elaboration depend on unitization | journal = The American Journal of Psychology | year = 1989 | doi = 10.2307/1422950 | jstor = 1422950 | s2cid = 31679776 }}</ref> Another found that typical level-of-processing effects are reversed in word completion tasks; subjects recalled pictures pairs more completely if they were shown a word representing a picture rather than asked to rate a picture for pleasantness (semantic encoding).<ref>{{Cite journal | volume = 18 | issue = 6 | pages = 1251–1269 | last = Roediger | first = HL |author2=Stadler ML |author3=Weldon MS |author4=Riegler GL | title = Direct comparison of two implicit memory tests: word fragment and word stem completion | journal = Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition | year = 1992 | doi = 10.1037/0278-7393.18.6.1251 | pmid = 1447550 }}</ref> Typical level-of-processing theory would predict that picture encodings would create deeper processing than lexical encoding.

"Memory over the short term and the long term has been thought to differ in many ways in terms of capacity, the underlying neural substrates, and the types of processes that support performance."<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Rose | first1 = N. S. | last2 = Craik | first2 = F. M. | year = 2012 | title = A processing approach to the working memory/long-term memory distinction: Evidence from the levels-of-processing span task | url = https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/300| journal = Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition | volume = 38 | issue = 4| pages = 1019–1029 | doi = 10.1037/a0026976 | pmid = 22268911 | url-access = subscription }}</ref>

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===Vision===

[[Visual perception|Visual input]] creates the strongest recall value of all senses, and also allows the widest spectrum of levels-of-processing modifiers. It is also one of the most widely studied. Within visual studies, pictures have been shown to have a greater recall value than words – the [[picture superiority effect]]. However, semantic associations have the reverse effect in picture memories appear to be reversed to those in other memories. When logical details are stressed, rather than physical details, an image's recall value becomes lower.<ref>{{Cite journal | issn = 0278-7393 | volume = 11 | issue = 2 | pages = 284–98 | last = Intraub | first = H |author2=Nicklos S | title = Levels of processing and picture memory: the physical superiority effect| pmid = 3157769 | journal = Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition | year = 1985 | doi = 10.1037/0278-7393.11.2.284 }}</ref> When comparing [[orthography|orthographic]] (capitalization, letter and word shape), phonological (word sound) and semantic (word meaning) [[Encoding (memory)|encoding]] cues, the highest levels of recall were found with the meanings of the words, followed by their sounds and finally the written and shape-based cues were found to generate the least ability to stimulate recall.<ref name="CL1972>{{cite journal | last = Craik | first = FIM |author2=Lockhart RS | year = 1972| title = Levels of processing: A framework for memory research | doi = 10.1016/S0022-5371(72)80001-X | volume = 11 | issue = 6 | pages = 671–84 | journal = Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior | s2cid = 14153362 }}</ref>

===Hearing===

Auditory stimuli follow conventional levels-of-processing rules, although are somewhat weaker in general [[Recollection|recall]] value when compared with vision. Some studies suggest that auditory weakness is only present for [[explicit memory]] (direct recall), rather than [[implicit memory]].<ref>{{Cite journal|doi=10.3758/BF03210786 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=130–133 |last=Habib |first=R |author2=Nyberg L |title=Incidental retrieval processes influence explicit test performance with data-limited cues |journal=Psychonomic Bulletin & Review |year=1997 |doi-access=free }}</ref> When test subjects are presented with auditory versus visual word cues, they only perform worse on directed recall of a spoken word versus a seen word, and perform about equally on implicit free-association tests. Within auditory stimuli, semantic analysis produces the highest levels of recall ability for stimuli. Experiments suggest that levels-of-processing on the auditory level is directly correlated with neural activation.<ref name = Fletcher>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1093/brain/121.7.1239 | volume = 121 | issue = 7 | pages = 1239–1248 | last = Fletcher | first = PC |author2=Shallice T |author3=Dolan RJ | title = The functional roles of prefrontal cortex in episodic memory. I. Encoding | journal = Brain | year = 1998 | url = http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/121/7/1239 | format = pdf

| pmid = 9679776 | doi-access = free | hdl = 21.11116/0000-0001-A1F6-3 | hdl-access = free }}</ref>