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Concept information

phenomenon > memory phenomenon > context-dependent memory effect

Preferred term

context-dependent memory effect  

Definition

  • Better memory of information when the environmental context of learning is identical to that of memory retrieval.

Broader concept

Related concepts

Synonym(s)

  • context dependency effect
  • environmental context-dependent memory

Scope note

  • Godden and Baddeley (1975) found that divers who learned a word list underwater recalled it better while diving, and similarly if learning and recall occurred on the beach. On the other hand, if recall occurs in a different environmental context than learning (learning while diving and recall on the beach, and vice versa), recall is worse than in the similar environment condition.

Belongs to group

Bibliographic citation(s)

  • • Godden, D., & Baddeley, A. (1980). When does context influence recognition memory? British Journal of Psychology, 71(1), 99–104. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1980.tb02735.x

    • Document type: empirical study

    • Access: closed

  • • Godden, D. R., & Baddeley, A. D. (1975). Context-dependent memory in two natural envrionments: on land and underwater. British Journal of Psychology, 66(3), 325–331. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1975.tb01468.x

    • Document type: empirical study

    • Access: closed

  • • Martin, K. M., & Aggleton, J. P. (1993). Contextual effects on the ability of divers to use decompression tables. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 7(4), 311–316. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.2350070405

    • Document type: empirical study

    , replication

    • Access: closed

  • • Murre, J. M. J. (2021). The Godden and Baddeley (1975) experiment on context-dependent memory on land and underwater : A replication. Royal Society Open Science, 8(11), 200724. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200724

    • Document type: empirical study

    , replication

    • Access: open

    • Dataset reference: Murre, J. M. J. (2021, December 3). Data Godden and Baddeley (1975) Replication in Excel. https://osf.io/q2vjk/
  • • Shin, Y. S., Masís-Obando, R., Keshavarzian, N., Dáve, R., & Norman, K. A. (2021). Context-dependent memory effects in two immersive virtual reality environments : On Mars and underwater. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 28(2), 574‑582. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-020-01835-3

    • Document type: empirical study

    • Access: closed

    • Dataset reference: Shin, Y. S., Masís-Obando, R., Keshavarzian, N., Davé, R., & Norman, K. A. (2020, April 6). Context-dependent memory effects in VR. https://osf.io/5t9mv/
  • • Smith, S. M., & Vela, E. (2001). Environmental context-dependent memory: A review and meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 8(2), 203–220. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196157

    • Document type: meta-analysis

    • Access: open

Creator

  • Frank Arnould

In other languages

URI

http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/P66-PTGL0P1G-B

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