Memory performance and subject-defined depth of processing

Abstract

This experiment found that subjects could order a series of classification questions in terms of their relative depth of processing. The subject-defined processing depth was used to predict performance in an incidental learning task which employed the same questions with different subjects. A significant rank correlation was obtained between question depth of processing and stimulus word free recall. These data provide an independent assessment of processing depth and memory performance and thereby satisfy a necessary, but not sufficient condition for the depth-of-processing hypothesis. Little success was achieved, however, in attempting to define the scheme relating processing depth and performance. While memory is related to encoding conditions, the search for the relational scheme continues.