<P> For optimal encoding, connections are not only formed between the items themselves and past experiences, but also between the internal state or mood of the encoder and the situation they are in . The connections that are formed between the encoders internal state or the situation and the items to be remembered are State - dependent . In a 1975 study by Godden and Baddeley the effects of State - dependent learning were shown . They asked deep sea divers to learn various materials while either under water or on the side of the pool . They found that those who were tested in the same condition that they had learned the information in were better able to recall that information, i.e. those who learned the material under water did better when tested on that material under water than when tested on land . Context had become associated with the material they were trying to recall and therefore was serving as a retrieval cue . Results similar to these have also been found when certain smells are present at encoding . </P> <P> However, although the external environment is important at the time of encoding in creating multiple pathways for retrieval, other studies have shown that simply creating the same internal state that you had at the time of encoding is sufficient to serve as a retrieval cue . Therefore, putting yourself in the same mindset that you were in at the time of encoding will help recall in the same way that being in the same situation helps recall . This effect called context reinstatement was demonstrated by Fisher and Craik 1977 when they matched retrieval cues with the way information was memorized . </P> <P> The context of learning shapes how information is encoded . For instance, Kanizsa in 1979 showed a picture that could be interpreted as either a white vase on a black background or 2 faces facing each other on a white background . The participants were primed to see the vase . Later they were shown the picture again but this time they were primed to see the black faces on the white background . Although this was the same picture as they had seen before, when asked if they had seen this picture before, they said no . The reason for this was that they had been primed to see the vase the first time the picture was presented, and it was therefore unrecognizable the second time as two faces . This demonstrates that the stimulus is understood within the context it is learned in as well the general rule that what really constitutes good learning are tests that test what has been learned in the same way that it was learned . Therefore, to truly be efficient at remembering information, one must consider the demands that future recall will place on this information and study in a way that will match those demands . </P> <P> Computational models of memory encoding have been developed in order to better understand and simulate the mostly expected, yet sometimes wildly unpredictable, behaviors of human memory . Different models have been developed for different memory tasks, which include item recognition, cued recall, free recall, and sequence memory, in an attempt to accurately explain experimentally observed behaviors . </P>

Encoding is the encoding of meaning including the meaning of words