Levels of Processing

This chapter focuses on the background and development of the levels of processing (LOP) ideas proposed by Craik and Lockhart (1972) and on the empirical support for the ideas provided by Craik and Tulving (1975). The chapter describes how the concept arose from the British work on models of attention by Donald Broadbent and Anne Treisman in the 1960s; specifically on how the concept of depth of processing grafts a framework for memory research on to Treisman’s hierarchical model of selective attention. After a brief survey of empirical work, the chapter deals with criticisms and rebuttals of the LOP ideas and findings, its relations to other ideas such as transfer–appropriate processing and to some more recent extensions.

Retrieval Processes

Endel Tulving’s views of synergistic ecphory and cue-dependent forgetting are discussed and endorsed, in particular the view that external stimulation (or self-initiated internal stimulation) necessarily interacts with encoded records to yield retrieval. Paul Kolers’ view of retrieval as repetition of processing operations is also evaluated. Other topics include retrieval as recapitulation of encoding, transfer-appropriate processing, environmental and schematic support, and self-initiated activities. It is concluded that the concepts of levels of processing and transfer-appropriate processing are both necessary to describe observed patterns of retrieval. Two postulated bases for recognition memory—familiarity and recollection—are described and evaluated, as are the ideas of processing fluency and attribution proposed by Larry Jacoby. Finally, studies of involuntary retrieval, mind-wandering, and prospective memory are described and their implications assessed.

Test-Enhanced Learning

Test-enhanced learning is a technique instructors can use to increase recall on summative assessments (e.g., exams) via formative assessments (e.g., quizzes). The present research examined recommendations based on the transfer-appropriate processing and level-of-processing (LOP) perspectives to assess the question, does deeper processing on quizzes (i.e., using application questions compared to factual) benefit exam performance? Students were more likely to correctly answer application questions on the exam when quizzes required a deeper LOP, and students appeared to gain a relatively equivalent definitional understanding using either factual or application questions on quizzes. Consequently, the present research supports the use of quiz questions that require a deeper LOP, especially when students are expected to learn beyond rote memorization.

Reactivation of neural patterns during memory reinstatement supports encoding specificity

Encoding specificity or transfer appropriate processing state that memory benefits when items are encoded and retrieved in the same modality compared to when encoding and retrieval is conducted in different modalities. In neural terms, these effects can be expressed by a resonance process between a memory cue and a stored engram; the more the two overlap the better memory performance. We here used temporal pattern analysis in MEG to tap into this resonance process. We predicted that reactivation of sensory patterns established during encoding has opposing effects depending on whether there is a match or mismatch between the memory cue and the encoding modality. To test this prediction items were presented either visually or aurally during encoding and in a recognition test to create match (e.g. “dog” presented aurally during encoding and recognition) and mismatch conditions (e.g. “dog” presented aurally during encoding and shown visually during recognition). Memory performance was better for items in the match compared to the mismatch condition. MEG results showed that memory benefitted from neural pattern reinstatement only in the match condition, but suffered from reinstatement in the mismatch condition. These behavioural and neural effects were asymmetric in that they were only obtained for aurally encoded words but not for visually encoded words. A simple computational model was generated in order to simulate these opposing effects of neural pattern reactivation on memory performance. We argue that these results suggest that reactivation of neural patterns established during encoding underlies encoding specificity or transfer appropriate processing.

Task- and Talker-Specific Gains in Auditory Training

Purpose This investigation focused on generalization of outcomes for auditory training by examining the effects of task and/or talker overlap between training and at test. Method Adults with hearing loss completed 12 hr of meaning-oriented auditory training and were placed in a group that trained on either multiple talkers or a single talker. A control group also completed 12 hr of training in American Sign Language. The experimental group’s training included a 4-choice discrimination task but not an open-set sentence test. The assessment phase included the same 4-choice discrimination task and an open-set sentence test, the Iowa Sentences Test (Tyler, Preece, & Tye-Murray, 1986). Results Improvement on 4-choice discrimination was observed in the experimental group as compared with the control group. Gains were (a) highest when the task and talker were the same between training and assessment; (b) second highest when the task was the same but the talker only partially so; and (c) third highest when task and talker were different. Conclusions The findings support applications of transfer-appropriate processing to auditory training and favor tailoring programs toward the specific needs of the individuals being trained for tasks, talkers, and perhaps, for stimuli, in addition to other factors.