Context and State Dependence

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Retrieving Memories
CONTEXT-DEPENDENT MEMORIES
Many people attending a reunion at their
old high school find that being in the
building again provides context cues that
help bring back memories of their school
days.
but also the ability to bring it into consciousness. In other words, you have to be able
to retrieve it.
Retrieval Cues and Encoding Specificity
Retrieval cues are stimuli that help you retrieve information from long-term memory. As mentioned earlier, retrieval cues are what make recognition tasks (such as
multiple-choice tests) easier than recall tasks (such as essay exams).
The effectiveness of retrieval cues depends on the extent to which they tap into information that was encoded at the time of learning (Tulving, 1983). This rule is known
as the encoding specificity principle. Because long-term memories are often
encoded in terms of their general meaning, cues that trigger the meaning of the stored
information tend to work best. Imagine that you have learned a long list of sentences.
One of them was either (1) “The man lifted the piano” or (2) “The man tuned the
piano.” Now suppose that on a later recall test, you were given the retrieval cue “something heavy.” This cue would probably help you to remember the first sentence (because
you probably encoded something about the weight of a piano as you read it) but not
the second sentence (because it has nothing to do with weight). Similarly, the cue
“makes nice sounds” would probably help you recall the second sentence, but not the
first (Barclay et al., 1974).
Context and State Dependence
primacy effect A characteristic of
memory in which recall is particularly
good for the first two or three items in
a list.
recency effect A characteristic of
memory in which recall is particularly
good for the last few items in a list.
retrieval cues Stimuli that allow or
help people to recall information.
encoding specificity principle A principle stating that the ability of a cue to
aid retrieval depends on how well it
taps into information that was originally encoded.
Have you ever taken a test in a classroom other than the one in which you learned the
material for that test? If so, was your performance affected? Research has shown that
people tend to recall more of what they have learned when they are in the place in
which they learned it (Smith, Glenberg, & Bjork, 1978). Why? Because if they have
encoded features of the environment in which the learning occurred, these features can
later act as retrieval cues (Richardson-Klavehn & Bjork, 1988). In one experiment, people studied a series of photos while in the presence of a particular odor. Later, they
reviewed a larger set of photos and tried to recognize the ones they had seen earlier.
Half of the people were exposed to the original odor while taking the recognition test.
The other half were tested in the presence of another odor. Those who smelled the
same odor during learning and testing did significantly better on the recognition task
than those tested in the presence of a different odor. The matching odor served as a
powerful retrieval cue (Cann & Ross, 1989).