Remembering in and out of context.

TLDR

The environmental reinstatement effect shows that memory is better when tested in the same context as learning, reflecting contextual dependence of memory. The study used three experiments to examine incidental associations between list‑learning material and the environmental context of its presentation. The experiments revealed that the environmental reinstatement effect is a memory process that can be overridden by explicitly recalling the original context, and that the effect weakens when the original context is difficult to remember, demonstrating that subjects can exert cognitive control over contextual retrieval cues.

Abstract

Three experiments examined the incidental associations between list-learning material and the environmental context of that list's presentation. The environmental reinstatement effect is that subjects remember more when tested in their original learning environment relative to those tested in a new environmental context. Experiment 1 demonstrated that this effect is due to a memory process, rather than a general performance decrement caused by the unfamiliarity of the new test room. The reinstatement effect was eliminated in Experiment 2 when subjects tested in a new room were instructed to recall the original learning environment just prior to free recall of list words. This release from contextual dependence was diminished in Experiment 3 when the original learning room was made more difficult to remember. The results show that context effects can be brought under cognitive control; subjects can supply their own contextual retrieval cues when the context can be easily recalled. Contextual dependence of memory refers to phenomena which show that memory is best when the situational or contextual conditions present at learning are reinstated at the time of the test. Such phenomena have