Effects of Environment on Recognition Memory

The Effects of Environmental Context and Stimulus Materials on Recognition Memory

Both environmental context and stimulus materials are believed to affect recognition memory (Linder, Balch, & van der Maelen, 1992, pp. 94-102). The strength of these effects, however, is a source of controversy (Foreman, Warry, & Murray, 1990, pp. 267-276). This controversy concerning the strength of the effects of environmental context and stimulus materials on recognition memory was the problem addressed in an experiment, the results of which are presented in this report.

Recognition memory is a part of working memory (Baddeley, 1992a, pp. 281-288). Working memory may be defined as the system for the temporary maintenance and manipulation of information necessary for the performance of such complex cognitive activities as comprehension, learning, and reasoning. The term working memory refers to an area of research that may or may n

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o test the contention of Anderson and Biddle (1975, p. 78). In that study, it was found that, when the information transfer was accompanied by questions that encouraged subjects to pay attention to the interrelationships between the ideas contained in a sequence of information, retention was better than that for a control group that experienced no questioning during the transfer of information. By contrast, however, Moeser (1978, p. 290) found that, when the information transfer was accompanied by questions that encouraged subjects to break the flow of the narrative, retention was worse than that for a control group that experienced no questioning during the information transfer. The experiment, the result of which are presented in this report, investigated the following research question: What are the effects of variations in environmental context and stimulus materials on the efficiency of recognition memory? It was hypothesized that: 1. Variations in environmental context affect the efficiency of recognition memory wherein learning and testing in the same environmental context will produce a higher recognition memory efficiency than will learning and testing in different environmental contexts, or a situation involving di
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Anderson Biddle, Warry Murray, Materials Design, Frensch Miner, , Buchner Lin, DCI_ Pic, Tulving Schacter, Queens College, Results Table, environmental context, recognition memory, stimulus materials, context stimulus, learning testing, environmental context stimulus, context stimulus materials, information transfer, variations environmental context, efficiency recognition, variations environmental, efficiency recognition memory, testing environmental, learning testing environmental, produce recognition,
Approximate Word count = 1775
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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