encoding specificity principle – Cognition in Class

April 28, 2025April 28, 2025

“Why I Forgot Stuff During the Test After Studying Really Hard”

By Walter Medrano

Have you ever studied really hard for a test, but when you sit down to take it, your mind just blanks out and you notice that you’re not as confident as you were while studying? That’s happened to me more than once. I’d study in my dorm, feel super confident, and then get to the classroom and suddenly forget everything. I used to think it was just nerves or stress, but it turns out there’s actually a reason this happens, and it’s called the encoding specificity principle. It may sound scary at first but it’s actually pretty cool once you understand it.

April 30, 2023March 12, 2024

Benefits of Contextual Learning

By Alexis Cole

Have you ever studied for a test but then when the time came to actually take the test you completely blanked? Many factors play a role in how well our memory works in different circumstances. One way you can try to improve your memory when studying for school is to use the encoding specificity principle. The encoding specificity principle is the idea that when we learn information we are processing both the information and the environment in which we learned it so we have better recall of that information when we are trying to remember it in an environment similar to the one we learned the information in (1). If we apply this concept to school we see that it is important to study for exams in an environment similar to the environment we will be in when we take the exam.

December 2, 2018

Study Smarter Not Harder

By Savannah Little

So, you are a freshman in college now. How exciting! Everything is about to change, and you will be surrounded by so many new things such as new people, new classes, and new responsibilities. Something that changes when entering college classes is going to be how you study. Whether you needed to or not in high school college is a whole new adventure and to pass the classes you are enrolled in you need to make sure you are equipped on how and where to study. There are many things to do to help improve your test scores, but there are a few simple things to do to make your next test run a little more smoothly. You can improve how you study which in return will improve your test grade simply by learning about a few simple things such as: context dependent memory, state dependent memory, and the encoding specificity principle. By incorporating these things into your daily study rituals, you will be sure to get an A on that next college exam!

Continue reading “Study Smarter Not Harder”