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Unlock This CourseIn 1972, Fergus Craik and Robert Lockhart revolutionised how we understand memory. They proposed that memory isn't just about storing information in different boxes (like short-term and long-term memory), but about how deeply we process information. Think of it like this: if you're reading a book, you could focus on the font style (shallow) or the meaning of the story (deep). The deeper you process, the better you remember!
Key Definitions:
Structural processing is like being a detective who only notices what things look like, not what they mean. When you process information structurally, you're focusing on visual features such as whether words are in capital letters, what colour they are, or what font they're written in. It's the most basic level of processing - like noticing someone's wearing a red jumper without thinking about why they chose that colour.
Craik and Lockhart identified three main levels of processing, each getting progressively deeper and more effective for memory:
Focuses on physical appearance - colours, shapes, fonts. Like noticing a word is written in bold without reading what it says.
Focuses on sounds - how words sound when spoken. Like noticing two words rhyme with each other.
Focuses on meaning - what words actually mean and how they relate to other concepts. Like understanding the story behind the words.
When we engage in structural processing, we're like art critics examining a painting's technique rather than its emotional impact. Visual features are the building blocks of what we see and our brains are remarkably good at noticing these details quickly.
Our brains automatically detect various visual features when we encounter information. These features include:
A perfect example of structural processing is the famous Stroop Effect. When people see the word "RED" written in blue ink, they struggle to say the colour of the ink quickly. This happens because we automatically process both the visual features (blue colour) and the meaning (the word "red"). The structural processing of the blue colour competes with our deeper processing of the word's meaning, creating interference and slowing us down.
You might wonder why we need to understand structural processing if it's the weakest for memory. Actually, it's incredibly important for several reasons:
Structural processing helps us navigate the world quickly and efficiently. Think about these situations:
Structural processing is lightning-fast but doesn't create strong memories. It's like skimming the surface of a lake - you cover lots of ground quickly, but you don't go deep. This makes it perfect for quick decisions but poor for long-term learning.
Craik and Lockhart's original research involved clever experiments that proved their theory. Let's look at some key studies:
In their groundbreaking study, participants were shown words and asked different types of questions:
Later, participants were surprised with a memory test. Those who answered semantic questions remembered far more words than those who answered structural questions. This proved that deeper processing creates stronger memories.
These researchers gave students lists of words to study. One group was told to count the number of letters in each word (structural processing), while another group was told to rate how pleasant each word was (semantic processing). Even though both groups spent the same amount of time with the words, the semantic processing group remembered twice as many words in a surprise memory test!
While the Levels of Processing model is influential, it's not perfect. Critics have pointed out several issues:
Some psychologists argue that the model has weaknesses:
Understanding structural processing can help you in many areas of life:
Don't just highlight text in pretty colours - that's structural processing! Instead, think about what the highlighted information means.
Visual features are crucial in design. Understanding how people process colours, shapes and fonts helps create effective posters and websites.
If you want to remember something, don't just focus on how it looks - think about what it means and how it connects to other ideas.
Since Craik and Lockhart's original work, researchers have continued to explore how visual features affect memory and learning.
Modern research shows that structural processing isn't always shallow. In some cases, visual features can be processed quite deeply:
Researchers have found that we remember pictures much better than words - this is called the Picture Superiority Effect. This suggests that visual processing can sometimes be quite powerful for memory, challenging the idea that structural processing is always shallow. When we see a picture of a dog, we process both its visual features (structural) and its meaning (semantic) simultaneously, creating a richer memory trace.
Structural processing and visual features play a crucial role in how we understand and remember information. While Craik and Lockhart showed us that focusing only on visual appearance creates weaker memories than focusing on meaning, visual features are still incredibly important for quick recognition, navigation and initial attention. The key is understanding when to use structural processing (for quick decisions) and when to go deeper (for long-term learning). By recognising how your brain processes visual information, you can become a more effective learner and better understand how memory works in everyday life.