Experimental Support for Assimilation A variety of research supports the as-
similation principle. One kind of support comes from experiments that show
that people remember more new information if that information is within their
area of expertise than if the new information is outside their area of expertise
(Bellezza & Buck, 1988; Chiesl, Spilich, & Voss, 1979; Morris, 1988). For in-
stance, experienced bartenders remember better than do novices their cus-
tomers ’drink orders (Beach, 1988). Football experts can remember more about
descriptions of fictitious football games than nonexperts (Bellezza and Buck,
1988). Chess experts will remember the positions of chess pieces on a chess-
board better than chess novices, provided the pieces are arranged in a way
consistent with the rules of chess. If the chess pieces are randomly arranged,
however, the chess expert can remember their locations no better than the
novice (Chase & Simon, 1973).
Sometimes when people must learn new material, like the material in this
book, they have a hard time figuring out what general patterns or principles
are implied by the material and so are unable to associate the material with the
appropriate elements in their cognitive systems. Any aids that help people find
such principles in the material will improve memory. If subjects are required to
memorize a list of words, they will remember more of them if the words in the
list are grouped according to categories, like animal names, than if the words
are presented in a random order (Bower, Clark, Lesgold, & Winzenz, 1969;
Mandler, 1979). Subjects given titles that clarify the meaning of otherwise
obscure pictures or passages remember more than subjects not given titles
(Bransford & Johnson, 1972). When subjects read technical or scientific pas-
sages, the subjects first given guides to help them associate the information
with familiar ideas (e.g., electrical current is like a river) or help them see the
relationships among key ideas in the text will later be able to recall more of the
text than subjects not first given the guides (Dean & Kulhavy, 1981; Brooks &
Dansereau, 1983; Lorch & Lorch, 1985). Most of the advantage for subjects
receiving the guides is in remembering the conceptual information and not the
technical detail (Mayer, 1980; Mayer & Bromage, 1980).
Levels of Processing and the Assimilation Principle Another manifestation of the
assimilation principle is found in investigations of what is usually calledlevels
of processing(Craik & Lockhart, 1972; Koriat & Melkman, 1987). This research
establishes that when people think about the meaning of information, they re-
member more of it than when they think about the physical properties or when
they merely try to rote memorize the information. Elaborating on the meaning
is a more effective learning strategy than is rote memorizing.
In one example of research on levels of processing, subjects studied a list of
words by making judgments about each word, and later recalled the words.
Subjects recalled more words for which they had been asked to judge ‘‘How
pleasant is the word?’’ than words for which they had been asked to judge
‘‘Does the word contain the lettere?’’ (Hyde & Jenkins, 1975; Parkin, 1984).
Subjects who studied a list of words by elaborating each word into complete
sentences (called elaborative rehearsal) later recalled more of the words than
subjects who only rote memorized the words (called maintenance rehearsal)
(Bjork, 1975; Bobrow & Bower, 1969).
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