Grant

• Context dependent memory is the belief that if you learn and retrieve information in the same environment with the same context your performance will be better.
• Effects on memory can be based on the types of test for a learner. E.g. change in context has a more negative impact on memory in tests of recall not recognition.
• Grant noticed that students often learn information in environments that are very different to the testing conditions. This inspired him to investigate if context dependent memory could have a positive impact on students when they learn and retrieve in the same context/environment.
• Grant aimed to investigate the context dependency effect on memory recall with the presence/absence of noise during learning and retrieval.
• Grant studied 39 undergraduate students who were acquaintances of the 8 experimenters. Opportunity sampling.
• He conducted a lab experiment with the independent measures design with 4 IV's, which were matched or mismatched.

  • silent/silent
  • silent/noisy
  • noisy/noisy
  • noisy/silent
• Procedure:

  • Participants were tested alone and asked to read an article on psychoimmunology in silent or noisy condition,
  • Silent condition wore noise cancelling headphones,
  • Noisy condition wore headphones with sounds of background cafeteria noise,
  • Given a 2 minute break to process information out of their working memory,
  • Given a multiple choice (recognition) and short answer questions (recall) out of 26 in either matched or mismatched conditions.
• Findings:

  • Highest group was silent/silent at mean score of 81%,
  • Lowest group was silent/noisy at mean score of 67%,
  • No significant differences in time taken to read the article.
• Grant concluded that memory is improved due to context dependency, and that if you learn information in silence, you should recall it in silence in order to get the best output of memory.