levels of processing

levels of processing

1. theory put forward by Craik & Lockhart - suggests how well material is remembered depends on how deeply it is processed

2. shallow structural processing on the basis of physical characrteistics is less effective than deeper acoustic processing, which is less effective than even deeper semantic processing (on basis of meaning)

3. Craik & Tulving research supports theory: orienting task Ps shown words and asked questions about each word involving (1) structural processing (is word in capitals?) (2) acoustic processing (does word rhyme with?) (3) semantic processing (does the word fit into the sentence?)

   • unexpected recognition test Ps asked to pick out words from similar words and words processed semantically best remembered - structurally worst remembered
     • theory also supported by generation effect - more likely to remember material processed ourselves as involves semantic processing

4. important because of applications

   • e.g. techniques involving semantic processing (paraphrasing) or constructing mind maps are likely to be most effective for exam revision