Encoding Your Memories

Regardless of which type of memory you are placing in long-term
memory, the transfer process from working to long-term memory
depends on encoding—the action of placing a particular bit of information
there. The process is a little like placing a file folder, in which
you have just placed some documents, into a file cabinet.
The more carefully you place it there and the more clearly you
identify what’s in that file, the better you will be able to retrieve it
later. In fact, psychologists distinguish between two types of encoding:
psychologists call this the ‘‘levels-of-processing’’ or ‘‘depthof-
processing.’’ You can either encode something through a more
shallow type of encoding or a deeper level of processing.5 The difference
affects your ability to retrieve information later.
When you use a more shallow type of processing, you are essentially
using your senses to place the information in long-term memory.
For example, you are focusing on the way a word or image looks
or sounds. In the tests psychologists use for testing memory, this
appearance or sound might be distinguished by whether a word is
typed in capital or small letters, rhymes with another word, or comes
before or after another word in a sequence. In the case of an image,
your focus would be on its appearance, such as its shape, color, or
identity. Or in everyday life, you might do shallow processing when
you remember someone by his or her facial features or what he or
she is wearing.
By contrast, when you use a deep processing approach, you are
looking at the meaning of something. For instance, if it’s a word, you
might think of whether it fits in a sentence or what types of images
and associations it brings to mind. If it’s an image, you would think
about its associations, too. And in everyday life, you would seek to
remember more details about someone beyond his or her superficial
appearance, such as his or her occupation, where and how you met,
and your thoughts about how you might be able to have a mutually
profitable relationship in the future.
As psychologists have found, when you use deep processing to
remember something, you will better recall it later. Why? Because of
two key factors: (1) making the information more distinctive and
(2) elaborating on it.6 For example, you might make the name of
someone you have just met more distinctive by identifying something
unusual about that name or thinking about how that person
is unique, such as if that person has an unusual occupation. Or you
might elaborate on some new information by thinking about how it
connects to something else you already know or about its meaning
and significance, such as when you read a news article and think
about the impact that an event discussed in the article will have.
In addition, psychologists have discovered three other factors
that contribute to deeper encoding and therefore better retrieval: (1)
the self-referent effect, (2) the power of context and specificity, and
(3) the influence of the emotions and mood. Moreover, psychologists
have found that these deeper encoding processes make more of an
impact within the brain itself than shallower processing. For example,
they have found that when subjects in experiments engage in
deep processing, they activate the left prefrontal cortex, which is associated
with verbal and language processing.7 This deep processing
approach has also been found to be especially effective in trying to
remember faces, by paying more attention to the distinctions between
features and consciously trying to recall more facial features.8
You’ll see more about techniques that are based on each of these
factors in subsequent chapters. But for now, here’s how these different
factors contribute to better remembering something.