Context-Dependent Memory Effects in Two Immersive Virtual Reality Environments: on Mars and Underwater

Abstract

The context-dependent memory effect refers to enhanced remembrance of information when the context present at the learning of information is returned to during retrieval of that information. While Godden and Baddeley (1975) successfully showed context effects using two physical environments that are rich in sensory information (underwater and land), laboratory studies have struggled to replicate such effects. As a result, inconsistencies have developed in the field of context-dependent memory, which in turn question the reliability of context effects. As a potential explanation for the unsuccessful findings, it is important to note that laboratory studies do not contain the rich and diverse stimuli present in our natural world. However, laboratory studies are used to control for external influences present in our natural world that may bias the presence of context effects. As a solution, virtual reality is a method that offers uniform controls and high ecological validity in its environmental representations (Huff et al., 2011; Bohil et al., 2011). In this thesis, we use virtual reality to conceptually replicate the work of Godden and Baddeley (1975). We use two virtual contexts: Mars and Underwater. We hypothesize that a consistency between the learning and retrieval contexts will benefit free recall performance. If shown, these results will help untangle incongruencies in findings on context-dependent memory, while adding to studies that show virtual reality’s ability to replicate the natural world. While no context effects were observed in our results, the study is currently running another experiment variation in hopes of observing effects.