Figure 5.7 Differences in Recognition Memory for Words Processed at Different Levels Participants were presented a long list of words one at a time and had to answer a question about each word as it was presented. The nature of the questions led to different levels of processing—physical (how it was printed), acoustic (how it sounded), or semantic (what it meant). The level of processing dramatically affected the participants’ later ability to recognize the word as one that had been on this list.

(Adapted from Craik & Tulving, 1975; Experiment 2.)