Levels of Processing Experiment

The levels of processing theory, proposed by Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart in 1972, suggests that memory retention is determined by the depth of mental processing. Deep, semantic processing leads to better memory than shallow, structural or phonemic processing.

Shallow processing involves surface features like whether a word is in capital letters or rhymes with another word. Deep processing involves semantic features like whether the word fits in a sentence or describes a living thing. Deep processing creates stronger, more durable memory traces.

Simply re-reading material (shallow processing) is less effective than actively thinking about meaning, making connections, and relating information to what you already know (deep processing). Techniques like elaborative interrogation and self-explanation are effective because they promote deep processing.

Deep processing creates more elaborate memory traces with multiple connections to existing knowledge. When you think about meaning, you're not just storing the word itself, but its relationships, implications, and connections to what you already know, making it easier to retrieve later.

This is a small-sample demonstration with 12 words per condition, so a difference of one or two recalled words between the shallow and deep conditions is within noise. Only clear, consistent gaps should be read as suggesting the levels-of-processing effect.