Generally, such findings have been attributed to tulving and thompsons 1973 encoding specificity principle. The encoding specificity principle provides a framework for understanding how the conditions present while encoding information. Citeseerx scientific documents that cite the following paper. According to this principle, encoding operations govern the storage of information by directing the location of this information, and the ease and effectiveness of recalling this information is dependent on the initial encoding. Pdf compare and contrast levels of processing theory. Tulving called this general principle of matching encoding and decoding contexts the encoding specificity principle. Tulving argues that episodic memory is encoded based on how it was experienced the encoding specificity principle. Conducted 2 experiments with a total of 78 undergraduates to clarify possible interpretations of the encoding specificity principle of e. Tulving and thompson studied the effect of the change in context of the tbr by adding. Using music and encoding specificity to improve learning. More recently, postman 1975, in an investigation of the generality of the encoding specificity principle, reported eight relevant comparisons of recall and recognition. Generationrecognition theory and the encoding specificity principle. The effects of context and instructional set this research project was designed to test the encoding specificity principle, which explains how well humans encode and retrieve information and how it effects ones memory. Pdf a semantic interpretation of encoding specificity researchgate.
Pdf a semantic interpretation of encoding specificity. The encoding specificity principle suggests that subjects can retrieve. The present authors feel that tulvings 1978 view is not completely cowpatible with fisher and. Thomson and tulving 1970 and the encoding specificity principle revisited philip a. This finding was that certain target words were consis tently recognized more frequently than others. Encoding specificity and unidirectional associates in cued. Encoding specificity manipulations do affect retrieval. Both concepts highlight a basic organizing principle of human memory. Similarly, tulving 1979 developed the encoding specificity principle, which is an idea that focuses on the compatibility of the cue used in recall with the processing done in encoding i. Hence, one would expect better recall for the condition with two retrieval cues. Thomson monask university, clayton, victoria, slttstraliu recent changes in prctheorclical orientation toward problems of human memory have brought with them a concern with retrieval.
If you must take a test without caffeine, it is best to study without caffeine. Using the encoding specificity principle to assess the. Thomson and tulving 1970 and the encoding specificity principle revisited. Encoding specificity and retrieval processes in episodic. Encoding specificity vs associative continuity pdf. Forthe older subjects, however, a context specificity effect was found. Craik and tulvings research supports their level of processing theory. This is why people can normally answer the question when did that happen. Tulving 1982, 1983 linked storage, recall and recognition by the principle that context is a unifying factor. Thomson and tulving 1970 and the encoding specificity principle revisited pdf. Encoding specificity and retrieval processes in episodic memory. Encoding specificity and recognition memory for words. There was, however, an unexpected finding in their study. Thomson 1973 introduced an encoding specificity principle, which asserts that the memory trace of an.
Higham universityof southampton, southampton, england performance on tests in which there is control over reporting e. This means that when a memory is stored details of time and space when and where are stored with it. Encoding specificity is a principle that states that human memories are more easily retrieved if external conditions emotional cues at the time of retrieval are similar to those in existence at the time the memory was stored. Fisher and craiks 1977 ata required nothing illore than his. As deeper processing would logically take more time to execute than shallow processing e. Tulvings long term memory ao1 ao2 ao3 psychology wizard. The encoding specificity principle is the tested in three experiments by thomson and final idea about retrieval and extralist cuing tulving 1970. However, this representation is recencybiased and thus can not account for primacy. Tulving and thomsons 1973 results thus ques tioned the generationrecognition account of retrieval, and favoured the encoding specificity principle. Importantly, when performance was not predicted to rely on secondary memory, performance between the mismatch and no cue conditions did not differ. A test of confusion theory of encoding specificity sciencedirect. These effects are also consistent with the encoding specificity principle, which predicts that a greater match between a cue and a stored memory will increase the probability of retrieval success. Tests of the generality of the principle of encoding specificity tests of the generality of the principle of.
Finally, we conclude that the wiseman and tulving data have no relevance either to the principle of encoding specificity or to twostage models of recall. Specifically, the principle states that memory is improved when information available at encoding. It says that, in general, it is best to match your encoding context to the recall environment. In the research reported by humphreys and galbraith 1975, an attempt was made to test predictions from the encoding specificity principle by means of an encoding procedure wherein the target and cue words. The results supported the principle of encoding specificity thomson. Agerelated differences in the specificity of verbal encoding. The encoding specificity principle states the greater the similarity between the encoding event and the retrieval event, the greater the likelihood of recalling the original memory. Encoding specificity and retrieval processes in episodic memory1 endel tulving 2 yule university and university of toronto, toronto, canada ant donald m. One interpretation of this phenomenon has been suggested by tulving and thomson. The encoding specificity principle shows how memories are linked to the context where they are created.
In other words, cues that are present at encoding are the maximally effective ones for facilitating retrieval. Free fulltext pdf articles from hundreds of disciplines, all in one place strong cues are not necessarily weak. Levels of processing theory and the encoding specificity theories are evaluated in terms of each other. Some tests of the encoding specificity and semantic. Journal of verbal learning and verbal behavior 14, 370381 1975 a test of confusion theory of encoding specificity sandor wiseman and endel tulving university of toronto subjects studied and were tested for recognition and recall of target words on four successive lists of cuetarget word pairs. Encoding specificity effect tulving and thomson 1973 step. Several tentative explanations of this phenomenon of recognition failure were subsumed under the encoding specificity principle according to which the memory trace of an event and hence the properties of effective retrieval cue are determined by the specific encoding operations performed by the system on the input stimuli. Specifically, the principle states that memory is improved when information available at encoding is also available at retrieval. I argue that this interpretation of the results is problematic because the thomson and tulving paradigm is confounded, and show in three experiments using a more appropriate design that encoding specificity manipulations do affect performance in forcedreport cued recall.
He concluded that the encoding specificity effect indexed by the. These results were, however, accommodated by tulving and thomsons encoding specificity principle of 1973 combined with the assumption that the strong cues present at retrieval were also present at encoding. Pdf encoding specificity and retrieval processes in. Therefore in our experiment we wanted to see if changing the semantic context would affect. Encoding specificity definition psychology glossary. How we change what others think, feel, believe and do. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. According to the encoding specificity principle tulving, 1983 the recollection of an event depends on the interaction between the properties of the encoded event and the properties of the encoded retrieval information. Formal cognitive models of episodic memory assume that during encoding list items become associated with a changing context representation. Assuming adequate consolidation whatever that is, an encoded memory, made rich and distinctive by elaborative and organizational processing, remains permanently in memory storage until needed, at which time it must be retrieved from storage, subject to interference, and put to use.
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