| Abstract: | Previous literature has shown the following: (1) when material is learned in an acoustic context, or the presence of background music, the music becomes associated with the learned material (Smith, 1985); and (2) the use of multiple learning environments, or multiple contexts, improves memory for the material learned in those environments (Smith, 1982, and Smith and Rothkopf, 1984). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the possible benefits of a multiple acoustic context on recall of a three day lecture series. Six groups of subjects heard a single repeated piece of background music (Single Acoustic Context condition, SC) for the entire lecture series. Another six groups heard a different piece for each lecture (Multiple Acoustic Context condition, Me). Science fiction stories presented on audiotape were used as the lecture material. Results showed that subjects in the MC groups scored significantly better, as predicted, than subjects in the SC groups. This finding supports the previous research on contextual enrichment, as well as the original hypothesis of this paper, that a multiple context effect can be induced successfully within one physical context using a multiple acoustic manipulation. |
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