My guess would be that we associate memories (especially memories of objects) with specific locations and can remember them better when we’re in those locations. One, easily testable, prediction of this theory is that returning to the original room will make the memory more easily accessible.
In Experiment 3, the original encoding context was reinstated by having a person return to the original room in which objects were first encoded. However, inconsistent with an encoding specificity account, memory did not improve by reinstating this context.
Recall that the ancient method of loci involves going through doors as part of remember things.
Is this a disadvantage of it compensated for by its advantages? Is this a method it uses to reset the mind and make it easier to recall other things?
My guess would be that we associate memories (especially memories of objects) with specific locations and can remember them better when we’re in those locations. One, easily testable, prediction of this theory is that returning to the original room will make the memory more easily accessible.
They tested it in a recent paper.pdf).
Your link goes to the same paper as the original post.