Environmental Context and Memory

From Weekly I/O#86


Changing study environments can significantly improve how well you remember information because environmental context is critical for memory formation.

Paper: Environmental context and human memory

A 1978 study by psychologists Smith, Glenberg, and Bjork found an interesting connection between environment and memory retention. One of their experiments shows that reviewing a study material in two different locations led to a 40% improvement in memory recall compared to reviewing twice in the same place. In other words, simply changing where you study dramatically improves how well you remember information.

This environmental context effect can also be applied to teaching and testing. There are research studies exploring the use of different learning environments, like classroom vs. clinical space, for medical education to enhance retention and having exams in varied contexts to help more flexible retrieval of learned information.

You can also read this meta-analysis paper to learn more about environmental context-dependent memory.


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