Automatic Processing vs. Effortful Processing

       Encoding is one step to memory; it is when we take the information in. Automatic processing is when we effortlessly process things without conscious thought. We automatically process information about space like how the classroom is set up, about time like when we know approximately what time it is usually, frequency like when we realize later how many times something happened; for example, I am likely to remember later how many times I passed someone in the hallway automatically if I rarely hardly ever see them. The last type of things we automatically process are bits of well learned information like driving a car; we are not focusing on how we drive, we just drive.
       Effortful processing is when we are aware/conscious of what we are processing. Visual processing is when we are only looking at visual information. This is the hardest form of processing to remember later. Acoustic processing is when we are only hearing something. Semantic processing is when we remember things better when they are of more meaning to us. The self-reference effect says that we remember things more clearly when they are similar to us because then they are of more meaning to us (semantic). You need to remember the following principal: the more meaning something has to you, the longer and better you will remember it.