Although Craik & Lockhart (1986) did tend to neglect independent measures of whether processing was deep or shallow. Recently both psychologists (1990) had updated their model in response to criticisms in research findings. They accept that the original method was rather oversimplified and the retrieval process lacked detail.
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Levels of processing - Hyde and Jenkins (1973)
They used a type of approach involving presenting several groups of participants with the same list of nouns and asking each group to perform a different activity with the list, e.g., counting letters or describing words. Incidental learning was used and results found retention was found to be 51% higher after semantic tasks. They concluded that Incidental learners recall as well as intentional learners, suggesting that it is the nature of processing that determines recall.
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Level of Processing - D. Rumelhart & D. Norman (1978)
This theory proposed that there are three modes of learning: accretion, structuring and tuning. Accretion is the addition of new knowledge to existing memory. Structuring involves the formation of new conceptual structures or schema and Tuning is the adjustment of knowledge to a specific task usually through practice. They concluded that accretion is the most common form of learning; structuring occurs much less frequently and requires considerable effort whereas tuning is the slowest form of learning and accounts for expert performance.
Reason for choosing investigation:
Craik and Lockhart (1972) focus on how levels of processing affect recall of words likewise Hyde and Jenkins (1973) base their study on words whereas D. Rumelhart & D. Norman (1978) focus learning modes. This investigation will look upon how image recall is affected by the level of processing in this way.
Aim: To investigate the effect varying levels of processing have upon the recall of images.
Hypothesis: The level of processing will affect the number of images being recalled.
Method:
Preparation for the investigation:
15 questions will need to be made based on 3 levels of processing, with 5 questions on each level. Images must be found to match the questions which are then required to be placed on a slideshow with an image per page. A page with all these images mixed with other random images will then be put onto paper which will form the basis of the tick list for participants later.
Conducting the experiment:
Participants will be shown an image, whilst being shown the image they will be asked a question on each image shown based on either, the colour, shape or meaning of the object.
Each image will be shown for 3 seconds each. Participants will then be given a paper showing many images and will be given 30 seconds to tick as many images they are able to recall from the images they were shown earlier on screen.
Design:
The research method being used in this investigation is experiments because of the control that it offers and the type of inferences that can be made. A laboratory experiment will be used as this ensures there is a well-controlled environment as opposed to a field experiment which is carried out in more natural environments which may cause distractions resulting in a lack of reliability.
The independent variable in this experiment will be the different levels of processing based on either the colour of the image being shallowest, the shape of the image being deeper, and about the meaning of the image being the deepest level of processing. The dependent variable will be the number of images being able to be recalled. The distance the participants are from the images will be kept the same as well as the time they are given to recall the images and time each image is shown on the slideshow.
One extraneous variable may be that the images used may have personal relation with some participants leaving them more likely to be able to recall them rather than because of the level of processing. However this may be the case with any image used and so is difficult to control.
This experiment will use single blind techniques counteracting experimenter bias as well as standardised instructions to prevent experimenter effects. The experiment design will be the repeated measures design; this is as there is no worry about differences between people in the group affecting the results. Order effects will be avoided as each level of processing is different so each participant creates results for all three levels.
For ethical reasons participants must sign the informed consent form beforehand to ensure they agree on taking part knowing the nature of the study. Debriefing will take place after the experiment as participants should be told the aims of the investigation and the purpose of the procedures so that they do not go away anxious about their roles.
Participants will be made aware of their right to withdraw from the experiment at any time to ensure they are always comfortable and informed that all the information collected is anonymous.
Participants:
The target population being used is 16-19yr old students from Green sixth form. The sampling method being used is opportunity sampling; this seemed most appropriate as it found participants that were willing, available and suitable to take part. There will be 18 participants taking part in this experiment.
Apparatus:
- PowerPoint presentation of images.
- 18 sheets of paper – to answer questions
- 18 sheets of paper with images – forms tick list for recalling images
- Stopwatch – to time 30 seconds to recall
- Standardised instructions – to brief participant
- Informed consent forms
Procedue:
Briefing:
Hi there, a psychology experiment will be taking place, being 16-19yrs old and studying at Green sixth form you match the participants required. It takes no longer than 10-15 minutes of your time and a consent form must be signed, would you be happy to participate?
Standardised Instructions:
Before experiment:
Hi welcome, thank you for participating; you have the right to withdraw at any time. You will be shown a series of images on the screen; you will be asked a question on the colour, shape or meaning of the image. You must answer yes or no on the paper placed in front of you. Each image will appear on the screen for approx 3 seconds in which you must write your answers.
After slideshow:
You now have 30 seconds to tick as many images on your paper you are able to recall from the pictures shown earlier.
Debriefing:
Thank you for contributing to this study. The aim of this investigation was to explore the effect different levels of processing had upon the number of images being able to be recalled. There were three different types of questions asked where each related to three levels of processing. These results will provide information as to which levels of processing are more deeper.
Results…
This graph illustrates that colour has the lowest recall of images as the colour line falls below the other lines. The line tends to remain on 3 or 4 images being recalled. The pink line demonstrates the shape level of processing where 9 participants were able to recall 4 images. The meaning level line rises above the other lines where 10 points fall onto recalling all 5 images. The number of words recalled in all levels fall between 3-5 words recalled.
Measures of Central Tendency…
Measures of Dispersion…
Discussion:
The results show that the level of processing did affect the number of images being recalled. This is as more images were recalled when questions on deeper levels of processing were asked. This is as colour is the shallowest level of processing, resulting in these images not being held in the memory for long. Followed next by shape level of processing which falls between both lines of colour and meaning as it is shallower processing than meaning but deeper processing than colour. Meaning requires more thinking and memory which in turn results in these images being stored in the memory for longer.
An anomaly was found where during the meaning questions one participant only seemed to be able to recall 3 images. This may be due to the participant not paying attention or memory levels not being as strong as results showed this participant having a general lower recall rate than the other participants. Shape had the highest dispersion rate although all were low.
These results support Craik & Lockhart’s levels of processing theory as similar results were found with the difference being that this experiment focused on image recall as opposed to word recall. However although the sample of 18 does show the hypothesis to be correct, is not still not easy to generalise for the target population, however addition of more participants would be more time-consuming. The experiment may have been improved by the addition of more questions on each level of processing which would create more of a distinction between each level of processing results.
Ethically the experiment was handled well as participants were willing and fully informed. This investigation can be looked into further with conducting this experiment onto a different age group. This allows comparisons be made between recall of images between a number of different age groups showing memory and age. This experiment can also be conducted with the influence of alcohol, drugs or amnesia which allows comparisons to how these influences affect the memory recall rate.
Levels of processing theory is concerned mainly with factors affecting memory trace, the ability to remember events. Remembering not only depends on what is stored in the memory but also process of retrieving the event. This work and results found can be further researched into examining the retrieval process in relation to this.
References:
Book References:
(a)
Craik & Tulving (1975), effects of levels of processing. Introducing Psychology ; Approaches, Topics, & ,Methods Hodder Arnold
(b)
Hyde & Jenkins (1973) Cognitive psychology ; By Michael W Eysenck, Mark T Keane
(c ) Rumelhart, D. & Norman, D. (1978). Accretion, tuning and restructuring: Three modes of learning. In. J.W. Cotton & R. Klatzky (eds.), Semantic Factors in Cognition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
