Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience, 3rd Edition

Retrieval: Getting Information Out of Memory • 181

between encoding and retrieval. We will consider further evidence for this connection

as we discuss retrieval in the next section.

1. What is encoding? Retrieval? Why is each necessary for successful memory?


2. What is the difference between elaborative rehearsal and maintenance
   rehearsal, in terms of (a) the procedures associated with each type of rehearsal
   and (b) their effectiveness for creating long-term memories?


3. What is levels-of-processing theory? Be sure you understand depth of process-
   ing, shallow processing, and deep processing. What would LOP theory say
   about the difference between maintenance rehearsal and elaborative rehearsal?


4. What does it mean to say that LOP theory does not defi ne depth of processing
   independently of memory? Why is this a problem for LOP theory?


5. Give examples of how memory for a word can be increased by (a) using it
   in a sentence, (b) forming visual images, (c) linking words to yourself,
   (d) generating the word during acquisition, (e) organizing information, and
   (f) testing. What do these procedures have in common?


6. What do the results of the procedures in #5 indicate about the relationship
   between encoding and retrieval?

Retrieval: Getting Information Out of Memory

Before material that has been encoded can be used, it must be retrieved. The process of

retrieval is extremely important because most of our failures of memory are failures of

retrieval. These retrieval failures occur when the information is “in there,” but we can’t

TEST YOURSELF 7.1

5 minutes 2 days

Delay

1 week

Testing

0

0.7

0.8

0.6

0.5

0.4

Proportion of idea units recalled

Rereading

● FIGURE 7.9 Results of the Roediger and Karpicke

(2006) experiment. Note that at longer times after learning,

the performance of the testing group is better than the

performance of the rereading group. (Source: H. L. Roediger &

J. D. Karpicke, “Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves

Long-Term Retention,” Psychological Science, 17, 249–255, 2006. Reprinted by

permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)

TABLE 7.1 Encoding Procedures That Aff ect Retrieval

Condition Experiment/Result

Word in complex

sentence

Better memory for a word (“chicken”) used in a

complex sentence (more detailed description of

the word)

Forming visual

image

Pairs of words remembered better if images formed

(compared to just reading word pairs)

Linking to self Words associated with self are remembered better

(self-reference eff ect)

Generating

information

Memory better if second word of a word pair is

generated by the person, compared to just being

presented with the word (generation eff ect)

Organizing

information

Studying information that is organized, as in a “tree,”

results in better memory; presenting information

so organization is diffi cult (“balloon” story) results in

poor memory

Testing Testing following learning results in better memory

than rereading material after learning (testing

eff ect)

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