Craik and Tulving 1975

Craik and Tulving 1975

1. AIM

   • To test whether the level of processing of words affected how well those words are remembered

2. PROCEDURE

   • 24 participants
   • Each person showed 60 words on a tatchiscope
   • Each word accompanied with a Y/N question
   • 3 possible questions- each required a different level of processing
   • Weren't told recall was necessary to avoid participants trying to memorise them
   • Had to pick original 60 words from a list of 180

3. RESULTS

   • Percentage of words correctly recognised:
     • Structurally processed: 17%
     • Phonetically processed: 26%
     • Semantically processed: 65%
   • Found that the words which were recalled better were the semantically processed ones. Deeper processing= greater word recognition

4. CONCLUSION

   • Recognition is greater for words processed at a semantic level
   • Deeper processing leads to improved recognition- supports LOP theory

5. EVALUATION

   • Low generalisability as the sample was only small- may not be representative of wider population
   • It was a lab experiment so the conditions were controlled. Leads to repeated being more easily done to check for consistency
   • Useful in school life. Know that in order to remember things better for exams, semantic processing is best
     • However it isn't often that you just have to remember lists of words. Thus doesn't apply to all
   • Lab experiment so lacks ecological validity- participants were in a unnatural environment, reduces validity
   • Could be valid as it did measure what it set out to measure- true measure
   • Participants were deceived- they weren't told the true aim- unable to give fully informed consent
     • But deception stopped demand characteristics, increases validity
   • Ethical in sense that participants were debriefed and suffered no harm