Semantic effects in encoding specificity: A levels of processing approach

The semantic characteristics of study and retrieval contexts were varied in a cued recall paradigm. In the first experiment, ambiguous words (homographs) were modified at input and output by identical adjectives or by different adjectives reflecting either the same meaning or a different meaning. The results supported the principle of encoding specificity (Thomson & Tulving, 1970), but only for identical input and output cues; the results showed no facilitation of similar semantic context on recall. The second experiment used a depth-of-processing manipulation to show that the results predicted by a semantic interpretation of encoding specificity are obtainable, but only when subjects are induced to process deeply. The implications of these data for the generality of encoding specificity are discussed.