Context-dependent Memory Effects in Two Immersive Virtual Reality Environments: On Mars and Underwater

Overview

Journal Psychon Bull Rev

Specialty Psychology

Date 2020 Nov 17

PMID 33201491

Citations 8

Authors

Yeon Soon Shin

Rolando Masis-Obando

Neggin Keshavarzian

Riya Dave

Kenneth A Norman

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The context-dependent memory effect, in which memory for an item is better when the retrieval context matches the original learning context, has proved to be difficult to reproduce in a laboratory setting. In an effort to identify a set of features that generate a robust context-dependent memory effect, we developed a paradigm in virtual reality using two semantically distinct virtual contexts: underwater and Mars environments, each with a separate body of knowledge (schema) associated with it. We show that items are better recalled when retrieved in the same context as the study context; we also show that the size of the effect is larger for items deemed context-relevant at encoding, suggesting that context-dependent memory effects may depend on items being integrated into an active schema.

Citing Articles

Context-dependent memory in the real world: the role of frequency and context dwell time.

Choi Y, Kim K, Moon S, Jung G, Cha J, Yim H Front Psychol. 2025; 15:1489039.

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The effects of episodic context on memory integration.

Liu Z, Johansson M, Johansson R, Bramao I Sci Rep. 2024; 14(1):30159.

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Context-dependent memory recall in HMD-based immersive virtual environments.

Chocholackova M, Jurik V, Ruzickova A, Jurkovicova L, Ugwitz P, Jelinek M PLoS One. 2023; 18(8):e0289079.

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