Encoding Specificity

encoding operations in memory This nhrase denotes cognitive activities that accom" pany the perception of a to-be-remembered item or event, thereby influencing the properties of the resulting memory mce. A major empirical problem in laboratory research on memory has always been that of the identification of variables and factors that influence the "goodness" of memory performance, and the measurement of their effects. A major theoretical problem has concerned the determination of the relations between these variables and factors on the one hand, and the hypothetical component processes of learning and memory on the other. The conceptualization of an act of remembering as consisting of three successive processing stages encoding, storage, and remeval -has guided this theoretical enterprise in the recent past (see MEMORY). Thus, memoq phenomena can be identified as "encoding effects," "storage effects," or "retrieval effects." When other variables are held constant in an experiment, and only the nature of remeval cues is varied. the observed differences in memorv can be classified as reflecting retrieval effects. When encoding and remeval conditions are held constant, and the length and activities of the interval between encodine and remeval are varied, the observed differences can be said to reflect storaee effects. When the experimental manipulations performed at encoding nroduce differences in " . subsequent memory performance, we speak of encodine effects. It is well known that variables such as study h e , the number of re~etitions, and the intention to learn facilitate subsequent perform-