Limits and province of levels of processing: considerations of a construct.

The limitations and the proper domain of the levels-of-processing construct are considered. Following a sketch of the historical context in which the construct was proposed, some of its empirical and conceptual shortcomings are noted. The argument is then advanced that the notion of memory being determined by depth of processing should be regarded as a functional or purely psychological heuristic, immune to certain criticisms appropriate to the realms of cognitive science and cognitive neuroscience.