Encoding Specificity

1
Encoding Specificity

• Information in memory is easier to access when
  the pathway that is used to retrieve the
  information is the same pathway that was used to
  encode the information.

2
One kind of encoding specificity is state
dependent learning. Better performance when
mental state is similar during study-test phases.

• Examples
• Underwater vs. On Land
• Same vs. Different Study Area
• Imagining Same vs. Different Study Area
• Same vs. Different Environmental Odor
• Quite vs. Noisy Study Area
• Happy vs. Sad Mood (Maybe)

3
In Sum Performance on memory tasks is optimal
when the learners mental state at the time
retrieval is similar to what it was at the time
of learning.
So, is it better to have in-class exams, or exams
at the testing center?
4
Sensory/Events Earlier Today
A. Did some lame psychology experiment
Declarative Memory
Memorize these words, kid
TREE
DOOR TREE SHOE
House
Radio
B. Saw a stray dog
Event A.
Episodic Memory
word word word
Event C.
C. Alarm didnt go off
Didnt work
Event B.
Stray dog
Earlier Today
5
Knowing and Remembering
Declarative Memory
Episodic Memory
More activation here gives rise to a feeling of
familiarity.
6
Implicit Memory familiarity masquerades as truth
Experiment Begg, Anas Farinacci, 1992. Two
Sessions
Session 1 Participants read sentences and judge
them on the basis of how interesting they are.
Session 2 Participants read sentences and judge
them on the basis of how believable they are.
Some of the sentences were from Session 1, the
rest were new sentences.
Result Participants rated sentences that they
had been seen in the first session as being more
credible, even when they were told not to trust
the truthfulness of those sentences. This
suggests that familiarity, by itself, can bias
judgments of truth.
7
Implicit familiarity biases perception
Experiment Jacoby et al., 1988. Two Sessions
Session 1 Participants read sentences and make
some kind of judgment (just to make sure they pay
attention to the sentences).
Session 2 Participants hear sentences embedded in
noise and are asked to judge how loud the noise
is. Some of the sentences appeared in Session 1.
Result Participants rated noise as being quieter
for sentences that they had seen in the first
session. This suggests that subjects were
inferring a false judgment of noise perception
due to the activation level (or familiarity) of
the embedded sentences.
8
Source Confusion
Declarative Memory
Episodic Memory
??
High activation in declarative memory gives rise
to a feeling of familiarity. This familiarity
impels the system to assign some source, in order
to account for the familiarity. There are ample
opportunities for the system to falsely assign an
item in declarative memory to the wrong source.