People often report an annoying memory failure when they walk from one end of the house to the other for something and then forget what they went to retrieve when they reach their destination.As soon as they return to the first room,they are reminded of what they wanted in the first place.This common experience best illustrates the principle of
A)the self-reference effect.
B)maintenance rehearsal.
C)levels of processing theory.
D)encoding specificity.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This experience best illustrates the principle of encoding specificity, which states that the ability to retrieve information from memory is improved when the conditions at retrieval match the conditions during encoding. Walking to a different location and then forgetting why you went there is an example of a mismatch between encoding and retrieval conditions, leading to poor retrieval of the intended information. Returning to the original location can serve as a retrieval cue to help remember the intended goal.

People Often Report an Annoying Memory Failure When They Walk