Suppose that a friend tells you that her introductory psychology textbook says you should study for a test in the same room where you will take the test, because of the effects of context. Your most informed response would be:
a. Yes, that's true, as long as you emphasize the physical characteristics of the material you are studying.
b. Yes, that's true; context provides the most helpful cues for prompting memory.
c. No, that's not true; researchers have found no convincing evidence for encoding specificity.
d. Well, it can sometimes be helpful to have the same context for studying and for recall, but the effect is not very strong.
Question 2
Which of the following students has the best understanding about the inconsistent research results on encoding specificity?
a. Albena: Encoding specificity works especially well in laboratory settings.
b. Mary Lou: Encoding specificity works especially well for events that happened long ago.
c. George: Encoding specificity is especially likely when the material has been well learned.
d. Takeshi: According to the research, physical context is more important than all other encoding cues; studies that have congruent physical context are very likely to demonstrate encoding specificity.
Aerial photo showing the placement of 24 study plots, each 50 m by 50 m, in the Chihuahuan Desert ne
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