Context maintenance and retrieval 1 Running head: CONTEXT MAINTENANCE AND RETRIEVAL A context maintenance and retrieval model of organizational processes in free recall

We present the Context Maintenance and Retrieval (CMR) model of memory search, a generalized version of the temporal context model (TCM) of Howard and Kahana (2002a), which proposes that memory search is driven by an internally maintained context representation composed of stimulus-related and source-related features. In the CMR model, organizational effects (the tendency for related items to cluster during the recall sequence) arise as a consequence of associations between active context elements and features of the studied material. Semantic clustering is due to longstanding context-to-item associations, whereas temporal clustering and source clustering are both due to associations formed during the study episode. A behavioral investigation of the three forms of organization provides data to constrain the CMR model, revealing interactions between the organizational factors. Finally, we discuss the implications of CMR for our understanding of a broad class of episodic memory phenomena, and suggest ways in which this theory may guide our exploration of the neural correlates of memory search.