Encoding: Getting Information Into Long-Term Memory • 173Each of the techniques suggested by these students is based on one or more basic
principles behind the operation of long-term memory. In this chapter we begin by
describing these principles and then show how the principles can be applied to the
student examples and to studying in general. One of the goals of studying is to get infor-
mation into LTM. We saw in Chapter 5, when we described Rachel ordering pizza, that
the process of acquiring information and transferring it into LTM is called encoding.
Notice that the term encoding is similar to the term coding that we discussed in
relation to STM in Chapter 5 and LTM in Chapter 6. Some authors use these terms
interchangeably. We will use the term coding to refer to the form in which information
is represented. For example, a word can be coded visually or by its sound or by its
meaning. We will use the term encoding to refer to the process used to get information
into LTM. For example, a word can be encoded by repeating it over and over, by think-
ing of other words that rhyme with it, or by using it in a sentence. One of the main mes-
sages in this chapter is that some methods of encoding are more effective than others.
Imagine that you’ve just fi nished studying for an exam and are pretty sure that
you have encoded the material that is likely to be on the exam into your LTM. But the
moment of truth occurs when you are in the exam and you have to remember some of
this information to answer a question. This remembering involves accessing some of the
information that you’ve encoded and transferring it from LTM into working memory,
to become consciously aware of it. This process of transferring information from LTM
to working memory is called retrieval. It is, of course, essential to your success on the
exam, because even if information is in LTM, it doesn’t help you answer the exam
question if you can’t retrieve it. One of the main factors that determines whether you
can retrieve information from LTM is the way that information was encoded when you
learned it. In the next section we will focus on how information is encoded into LTM.
We will then consider retrieval and how it relates to encoding.Encoding: Getting Information Into Long-Term Memory
There are a number of ways to get information into memory, some more effective than
others. You can mindlessly read something, or take in its deeper meaning; you can
consider a topic by repeating its individual points, or you can become aware of how a
topic is organized by noting how the individual points relate to each other. We begin
describing methods of getting information into memory by discussing the process of
rehearsal—repeating information over and over.MAINTENANCE REHEARSAL AND ELABORATIVE REHEARSAL
One of the central concerns of early cognitive psychologists was determining the rela-
tionship between encoding and rehearsal. We saw in Chapter 5 that rehearsal can be
used to keep information in STM/working memory, as when you repeat a phone number
you have just looked up in the phone book. Although rehearsal can keep information
in working memory, rehearsal doesn’t guarantee that information will be transferred
into LTM. You know this from your experience in rehearsing a telephone number and
then forgetting it right after you place the call. When you rehearse a telephone number
in this way, you are usually just repeating the numbers without any consideration of
meaning or making connections with other information. This kind of rehearsal, called
maintenance rehearsal, helps maintain information in STM/WM, but it is not an effec-
tive way of transferring information into long-term memory.
Another kind of rehearsal, elaborative rehearsal, is more effective at transferring
information into LTM; it occurs when you think about the meaning of an item or
make connections between the item and something you know. We can demonstrate that
elaborative rehearsal is a good way to establish long-term memories by describing an
approach to memory called levels-of-processing theory.Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part.