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The Effects of LOP on Implicit and Explicit Memory Essay

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The Effects of LOP on Implicit and Explicit Memory
The importance of memory is very high in comparison to the content of the memory. We use memory to recall information such as where you park your car upon arrival at the mall, the time and channel a particular news special is to be aired, or the types of drugs to which your child may be allergic. The former two are processed very shallowly. The information may be needed today but two weeks later, it is not important and most likely not remembered due to the weak memory trace. The latter of the three examples is vital information which is processed much more deeply that the other two.
With the way that amnesiacs’ memory work, and patients with MS or focal lesions or Alzheimer’s disease, …show more content…

They would have to remember what was previously presented, and recall the words to complete the word list.
A method of influencing, or priming, both the implicit and explicit memory is by altering the depth, or level of processing (LOP), prior to performing the word list. Altering the depth refers to the amount of cognitive processing it takes to interpret information. In these studies, the LOP is typically manipulated by changing what qualities about the words the participant is focusing on. Depending on how the LOP is changed will determine whether the participant is using a deep LOP or shallow LOP to process the information presented.
Deep LOPs are affected participant’s interpretations of words on a list by their semantic meanings and uses such as their pleasantness, their meaning, or how they fit into a particular sentence or category.
Shallow LOPs use less detail about the words and look at more nonsemantic qualities of the words such as the font in which the words are printed, searching for particular letters, counting the number of letters, or counting the number of vowels.
Implicit and explicit memory is affected by the LOP. The more time and thinking that go into interpreting a word (i.e. meaning or usage), the more likely it will be that the word can be quickly recalled. As information is gathered from different sources throughout the day, such as watching television commercials, reading instructions, or

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