cognitive processing of a stimulus that focuses on its meaningful properties rather than its perceptual characteristics. It is considered that processing at this semantic level, which usually involves a degree of elaboration, produces stronger, longer-lasting memories than shallow processing. See levels-of-processing model of memory. See also semantic encoding; top-down processing. [proposed in 1972 by Canadian psychologists Fergus I. M. Craik (1935– ) and Robert S. Lockhart]