How Does VCE Psychology - Craik and Lockhart's Levels of Processing Work?

Craik and Lockhart’s Levels of Processing is like how deeply you think about something when you learn it, the more you think, the better you remember it.

Imagine you're learning new words in a game. If you just see the word on a card, that's like only shallow processing, it's quick, but you might forget it soon. It’s like looking at a toy and saying, “That’s a car,” without really thinking about what makes it a car.

But if you think deeper, like you're trying to understand how the word fits into a sentence or connects with other words, that’s deep processing, it's slower, but it helps you remember for longer. It’s like taking apart your toy car to see how all the pieces work together.

So, Craik and Lockhart said: The more you think about something when you learn it, the better you’ll remember it later.

Why Depth Matters

If you only look at a word (shallow), you might forget it quickly, like forgetting your toy after playing for a while.

But if you really think about it (deep), you’re more likely to remember it, like remembering how to build your favorite toy even after days of play!

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Examples

  1. A student reads a list of words quickly, but only remembers the ones they can visualize, like 'apple' or 'chair'.
  2. Someone hears their friend’s name and recalls where they met them because it's more meaningful.
  3. You remember a phone number better if you repeat it in your head instead of just looking at it.

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