Levels of processing model: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 07:59, 6 June 2007

Revision as of 05:24, 7 September 2007

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The types of questions the participants were asked to answer were designed to affect the manner in which the words were encoded into memory. Certain questions had participants encode the '''physical''' aspects of the stimuli (e.g., "Is the word printed in capital letters?"). Other questions had participants encode the '''acoustic''' properties of the stimuli (e.g., "Does this word rhyme with "DOG"?"). Other questions had participants encode the '''semantic''' aspects of the stimuli (e.g., "Does the word fit in the following sentence - "The ________ walked into the house"). Following the incidental learning task, participants were given a surprise memory test.

Craik & Lockhart predicted that attending to the physical features of the stimuli would to result in shallow encoding and a weak memory trace. Attending to the acoustic properties of the stimuli would result in a moderate level of processing and a moderately strong memory trace. Attending to the semantic properties of the stimulus would result in the deepest level of processing and the strongest memory trace. The results of the experiment confirmed the hypothesis. The deeper the level of processing, the more likely it was that the word would be remembered. Also, there was higher recall when the words were connected by logic (fish and ocean)<!-- this would indicate an association in semantic memory -->, as opposed to concretely connected words (fish and hand). Effects such as these are termed the self-reference effect.<!-- This is just wrong. The self-reference effect is when memory is improved because the person encodes the new information by tying the information in with his or her own life and experiences-->

Physical- Visual feature of the word (lowercase, uppercase); shallow code; weak memory trace; fast decay