In psychology, context-dependent memory is the improved recall of particular episodes or information when the context present at encoding and retrieval are the same. In a simpler manner, "when events are represented in memory, contextual information is stored along with memory targets; the context can subsequently cue recollections containing that contextual data". One significantly common example of context-dependence at work occurs when an individual has misplaced an item (e.g. lost automobile keys) in an unknown location. Sometimes, folks attempt to systematically "retrace their steps" to find out all of the potential places the place the merchandise is perhaps situated. Primarily based on the role that context performs in figuring out recall, it's not at all stunning that individuals typically fairly easily uncover the lost item upon returning to the correct context. This concept is closely associated to the encoding specificity principle. This instance greatest describes the concept of context-dependent forgetting. However, the research literature on context-dependent memory describes a lot of various kinds of contextual info that will affect recall corresponding to environmental context-dependent memory, state-dependent studying, cognitive context-dependent memory and mood-congruent memory.

Analysis has additionally proven that context-dependence may play an vital position in numerous situations, similar to memory for studied material, or occasions which have occurred following the consumption of alcohol or different drugs. Some of the earliest analysis on this subject was conducted by researchers in the thirties who analyzed how changes in context affect an individual's memory for nonsense syllables. These early research were unable to display an effect of context-dependent memory. Such non-important outcomes inspired the development of recent strategies, resembling a retroactive interference paradigm, to analyze the effect of context on Memory Wave App. By the 1950s, this technique was used to exhibit an effect of contextual data on memory recall. However, the validity of utilizing this particular paradigm has been questioned. Indeed, much of the early literature on this matter failed to provide conclusive evidence of any context-dependent effects on memory. By the top of the 1970s, numerous profitable demonstrations of a context-dependent impact seem within the literature.
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As early as 1971, Jensen et al. In a similar timeframe, Endel Tulving and Donald Thompson proposed their highly influential 'encoding specificity principle', Memory Wave App which offered the first framework for understanding how contextual information affects memory and recall. In 1975, the query of whether contextual information influences memory recall was famously investigated with the publication of Godden and Baddeley's paper detailing the well-recognized 'diving research'. A few years previous to the publication of this study, researchers demonstrated that the memory of deep sea divers for occasions witnessed underwater was lowered after resurfacing. The authors notice of their 1975 paper that this incidental consequence instantly instructed a doable influence of the contextual atmosphere (being underwater) on recall. To test this speculation, Godden and Baddeley had divers be taught and recall word lists in two separate environments; under water and on dry land. Their results demonstrated that memory for phrase lists learned below water was better when recall periods occurred under water as effectively, and that a congruent impact existed for phrases learned and recalled on land.

In simplified form: altering the context between encoding and retrieval lowered the divers' skill to recall discovered words. The publication of this examine likely initiated the present synthesis of context-dependent memory as it's studied by psychologists today. It is value mentioning that sure students imagine the English Philosopher John Locke referenced context-dependent memory in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which dates again to the 17th century. On this publishing, Locke wrote a few man learning a dance routine in a room containing an old wood trunk. After enough apply, the man discovered to keep away from the picket trunk to prevent himself from tripping throughout said dance routine. A quantity of things are thought to have an effect on how contextual info interacts with memory recall. Equally, this meta-analysis suggests that reinstatement of context could be achieved not only by bodily returning to the encoding setting, but additionally by mentally visualizing that environment. This study thought-about solely environmental context-dependence. Moreover, different psychological constructs counsel additional limits on how context can have an effect on memory.