A researcher presents participants with a list of words. She asks the participants to count the letters in the words in Group 1, to come up with rhymes for the words in Group 2, and to produce synonyms for the words in Group 3. Later, she tests the participants' memory for all of the words. From best to worst, which pattern correctly indicates how well words in each group will be remembered
A)1, 2, 3
B)3, 2, 1
C)3, 1, 2
D)1, 3, 2

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This question relates to the levels of processing theory, which suggests that deeper, semantic processing (like generating synonyms) leads to better long-term memory retention than shallower processing (like counting letters or generating rhymes). Therefore, words in Group 3 (synonyms) would be remembered best, followed by words in Group 2 (rhymes), and words in Group 1 (counting letters) would be remembered the worst.

A Researcher Presents Participants with a List of Words