Levels of Processing Demonstration Langston, Cognitive Psychology

Instructions You are going to be given a task. This task will be a question. As you look at the list of words that is coming up, answer the question for each word by writing “yes” or “no” on your paper. There will be a standard free recall after the list.

Instructions Everyone number your paper from 1-20. Different parts of the class will be given different tasks. I’m going to tell you if you are in group one or two. If you are in group one, look at the next slide for your task. Group two, look away.

Instructions The task for group one is to answer this question: Does the word contain the letter E? Write “yes” if the word does contain the letter E, write “no” if it does not. You must remember your task and use it for all items.

Instructions If you are in group two, look at the next slide for your task. Group one, look away.

Instructions The task for group two is to answer this question: Does the word sound pleasant to you? Write “yes” if the word sounds pleasant, write “no” if it does not. You must remember your task and use it for all items.

Instructions Everyone has their task, I am going to begin showing the words. You need to work quickly, you have three seconds per word…

TABLE

NIGHT

RED

LOVE

SALT

HAPPY

NORTH

MOTHER

HIGH

ODD

HATE

FATHER

DAY

GREEN

EVEN

CHAIR

PEPPER

LOW

SAD

SOUTH

***RECALL THE LIST***

Data Analysis The trick for this experiment was the two tasks. I’m going to get a sample of recall totals from the two groups… Group 1: Group 2:

Data Analysis We should see a large difference. Why? Group 1: Does the word contain the letter E? Write “yes” if the word does contain the letter E, write “no” if it does not. Group 2: Does the word sound pleasant to you? Write “yes” if the word sounds pleasant, write “no” if it does not.

Data Analysis We should also see more clustering in group 2. Count how many of these word pairs came out together in your recall: Table-Chair Night-Day Red-Green Love-Hate Salt-Pepper Happy-Sad North-South Mother-Father High-Low Odd-Even

Data Analysis Let’s count the clustering in the two groups… Why should group two have more clustering?

End Levels of Processing Demonstration