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The theory of context-dependent memory was inidally developed by McGeoch (1942) to account for the apparent forgetting of information. According to this theory, forgetting is explained as a failure to retrieve stored information rather than actual decay or disappearance of memories. When information is initially memorized, various aspects of the external environment, as well as a person's internal physiological state, are encoded along with the data. Physical characteristics of the environment may include: lighting, acoustics, room dimensions, objects or people in the room, decor, and ambient sound. These environmental features, regardless of whether they are important or incidental to the memorized material, serve as reminders. The theory notes that recall may be difficult if the external or internal environments have changed significantly since learning. Psychologists studying context-dependent memory have been primarily interested in the memorization of verbal material; however, it is possible that memory for musical material may be similarly affected.
Results of studies investigating context-dependent memory have frequently shown that memory for information learned in one environment (e.g., the classroom) is improved when remembering takes place in the same or a very similar setting. Conversely, when remembering is attempted in a different environment, the ability to recall diminishes (Godden & Baddeley, 1975; Smith, 1979; Smith, Glenberg, & Bjork, 1978). If these findings are extended to the memorization of music (Mishra, 2000), the physical surroundings that serve as the primary practice room will elicit the highest level of remembering. A memorized piece of music will be performed with the fewest memory slips in the familiar practice setting. Further, it may be predicted that more memory lapses will occur in alternate environments, such as concert halls.
In addition to a change of environmental context, performance situations are often accompanied by changes in internal physiological states-primarily an increase in anxiety levels. The term "state-dependent memory" is used when physiological or mood states are altered rather than physical environment. Other terms such as "mood-dependent memory" and 11 music-dependent memory" are used to refer to specific instances of state- or context-dependent memory. Studies of state-dependent memory, again often measuring recall of verbal information, demonstrate that changes in emotional states, as well as drug states, affect memory (see Eich, 1995a, for a review of statedependent memory and Eich, 1989,...