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Maintenance rehearsal is a term used in the study of memory. The idea was started in 1972 when researchers Craik and Lockhard determined there are two routes of information processing used for recall. Maintenance rehearsal involves continuing to process an item at the same level (Baddeley, 2009).  Maintenance rehearsal only requires a low-level amount of cognitive attention because it is basic and repetitive. It has the potential for immediate recall, but has little effect in recall in long term memory (Greene, 1987). Depending on the information that needs to be processes determines which route of recall an individual will use. For example, if the information only needs to be used temporarily, a person will use maintenance rehearsal in working memory. But, if the information needs to be used at a later date, most likely a person will use elaborative rehearsal. In elaborative rehearsal, the information is processed at a deeper level and has the ability to move to long-term memory. In a literature review, researchers proposed a hypothesis that, “Information entering working memory from the visual external world is processed by structures in the parietal and temporal lobes specialized for perceptual processing (Jondies, Lacey & Nee, 2005). 

Maintenance rehearsal has the potential to assist in long-term memory in certain situations. In a previous study, researchers looked at the difference in recall for a set of words between participants who knew they were going to be asked to recall the words, in which they repeated the words multiple times and the participants who did not know they were going to recall the words, in which they only repeated the words once. The group that were told they would have to recall the words at a later date, did significantly better than those who were not told they would have to recall (Baddeley, 2009). There is also a positive correlation between the meaningfulness of words and how much an individual will remember them (Baddeley, 2009). The more meaning an individual associtates with a certain word or a list of words, the more likely and easier it will be for them to remember them if asked to repeat them at a later date.

There can be differences in which younger and older children rehearse. Dempster (1981), reports that in younger children, they tend to only rehearse one item at a time. This helps them be able to remember the item without the clutter of other items. The developmental age of the child could also play a role in the number a child is able to remember and rehearse. The older a child is, the more items they can rehearse at once (Dempster, 1981).

In many ways, maintenance rehearsal is useful. Such as, when you look at a phone number and need to replicate it in a few seconds. But, for information that needs more attention and better processing, maintenance rehearsal is only a temporary fix. Individuals should use other processing techniques and elaborative rehearsal to help move information from working to long-term memory.

Dempster, F. N. (1981). Memory span: Sources of individual and developmental differences. Psychological Bulletin, 89(1), 63-100. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.89.1.63

Jonides, J., Lacey, S. C., & Nee, D. E. (2005). Processes of Working Memory in Mind and Brain. Current Directions In Psychological Science, 14(1), 2-5. doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00323.x

Greene, R. L. (1987). Effects of maintenance rehearsal on human memory. Psychological Bulletin, 102(3), 403-413. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.102.3.403

Baddeley, A., Eysenck, M., & Anderson, M. (2009). Memory. Psychology Press.