Encoding and Retrieval Processes 1
Abstract
The Levels of Processing (LOP) model states that stimulus is encoded to varying depths,
ranging from shallow to deep elaboration. The current study investigated the LOP framework
with regards to encoding processes at the phonemic (shallow elaboration) and semantic (deep
elaboration) level. 876 students from the University of Western Australia were randomly
allocated to two encoding conditions involving either a rhyming or semantic categorisation
judegment call on a series of word pairs, followed by a recall task based on the word pairs.
They also estimated the percentage of items they anticipated recalling before begining.
Participants in the Category condition performed better in the recall task, suggesting that
semantic encoding is superior to phonemic encoding in the retrieval process of recall.
Encoding and Retrieval Processes 2
Implications of Levels of Processing on Recall Performance
The Levels of Processsing (LOP) model is the view that recall ability depends on how
extensively information is encoded when first received. (Craik & Lockhart, 1972, as cited in
Bernstein, Penner, Clarke-Stewart & Roy, 2008). It states that stimulus is encoded to differing
depths, ranging from shallow to deep elaboration. With respect to word retention, this
depends on whether encoding occurs at the surface, phonemic or semantic level. (Moscovitch
& Craik, 1976, as cited in Lewandowsky & Hockley, 1987). For this study, we compare the
phonemic level, where the sound of the word is processed, with the semantic level, where the
meaning of the word is processed.
Rather than short and long-term structures, Craik and Lockhart (1972) based their
LOP theory on the processes involved in memory. They put forth that greater recall ability
