Levels of Processing Theory

What is levels of processing theory?

The levels of processing framework, proposed by Craik and Lockhart in 1972, relates later memory to the operations performed while encountering information. Meaning-based analysis is contrasted with analysis of surface features such as a word’s appearance. The authors explain the framework in their retrospective commentary.

Shallow and deep processing examples

Deep processing means attending to meaning and meaningful relationships. Shallow processing means attending to surface features, such as appearance or sound. These labels describe the kind of encoding, not simply how hard someone tries.

A structural question asks about a word’s appearance, a phonemic question about its sound, and a semantic question about its meaning. Checking whether “chair” is printed in capitals differs from deciding whether a chair is furniture. The task specifies the processing; the later test measures memory.

Research evidence

In Craik and Tulving’s experiments, questions directing attention to different properties of words produced different later retention. Subsequent experiments showed that processing time alone did not explain the results.

Criticisms of levels of processing theory

“Deep” should describe a specified operation, not simply whatever happened to produce good memory. Otherwise the explanation becomes circular. The authors also recognize that the fit between encoding and the later test matters.

Using the framework when studying

When learning a word, try using it in a meaningful sentence rather than attending only to its spelling. That illustrates a difference in encoding; it does not guarantee fluency. Practice can involve meaning too, so “repetition” and “shallow processing” are not synonyms. Match the learning activity to what you will need to remember or do.

For the memory finding and an experiment in which rhyme processing outperformed semantic processing, see the levels-of-processing effect.