How well you remember something depends less on how long you study it than on how deeply you process it. Craik & Lockhart (1972) proposed that information can be encoded at different levels — from its shallow surface form up to its deep meaning — and that deeper processing builds longer-lasting memories. Take one word and encode it three ways, and watch how much survives.
Structural processing
Later recognition—
Levels of processingpick a level to encode the word