encoding specificity principle

encoding specificity principle

1. Tulving's ESP states that the retrieval of information from memory depends on an overlap or matching the cues available at recall and those registered at encoding

2. retrieval cues are more effective the more features they share with the item being recalled

3. the more elaborate the processing at encoding the richer the network of associations available at recall

4. people remember more items in a recognition test than with free recall because more cues are present

5. ESP is relevant to cognitive interview when questioning witnesses using four principles:

   • 1-mentally reinstate the context of the event in terms of physical surroundings (external context) and how they felt (internal context)
     • Godden & Baddeley's study of divers: those who learned information underwater recalled more underwater than on land - and vice versa
   • 2-asked to recall everything they can as something unimportant may act as a cue for additional information
   • 3-asked to recall events in different orders (increase potential retrieval cues)
   • 4-asked to recall events from different perspectives (increase potential retrieval cues)

6. useful in cognitive interview as shown by Geiselman & Fisher

7. practical application in other areas e.g. Conway et al found that psychology students recalled more information when they could link it to a specific episode from a lecture

   • colour-coding could also be used as part of exam revision