Shane took part in a memory experiment. As he studied a list of words he was to remember, he formed a vivid image of each object on the list. He was confident he would do well on the memory test, but instead of asking for the actual words, the researchers asked Shane whether each word was printed in italics or bold-faced type. Why did Shane do so poorly on the memory test?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Shane performed transfer-appropriate processing by forming vivid images of each object on the list. However, the memory test required a different form of processing (i.e. recognizing the font type) which did not match the encoding process used by Shane. This mismatch in processing types is known as a transfer-appropriate processing failure, which can lead to poor performance on a memory test.

Shane Took Part in a Memory Experiment