The process of long-term memory may seem simple: we learn something via encoding, and we remember what we have learned later via retrieval. However, there are many variables that can affect our abilities within the encoding and retrieval process, one of which being the conditions. The conditions in which we are first exposed to a particular stimuli and eventually encode it into our long-term memory and how they match (or don’t match) the conditions we are in during our attempts at trying to retrieve this information can show up in two ways: encoding specificity and state-dependent learning. Encoding specificity refers to our encoding of information also including the context in which the information was received, while state-dependent learning associates a stimulus with a specific internal state (like a mood, emotion, or state of awareness). For this blog, I’ve chosen to focus on state-dependent learning as there has been a clear example of this present in my life, to which I didn’t have terminology until now.

My partner Nick was lucky enough to be enrolled in a public school with Massachusetts for a few years during his adolescence that offered language emergence courses. While none of his family members could speak anything but English and a little Armenian, after two years, Nick had a solid foundation in French by age 12. While his abilities certainly faded due to lack of use, Nick still had some French retained as he embarked on a Europe trip with his close friend at age 18. Spending most of their time in France, Nick and his friend paid for their room and board at local hostels by performing songs for the other guests during the evening. Being a teenager out in the world for the first time and able to in accordance to local laws, Nick spent most of this time, frankly, drunk. Plied with cheap beer and wine, Nick learnt a handful of songs in French which he sang consistently over the few months he was there.

Nick is now 35. He still plays his guitar and knows little bits of French, however, in the very rare occasions he gets drunk, Nick is able to sing and play whole concerts in French. I once asked him to play a song for me sober while I was studying French myself, but his fingers fumbled the cords and he couldn’t remember the words. A few glasses of wine later, and his Edith Pilaf is fluid and clear! I couldn’t put this occurrence down to stage fright or lack of skills – Nick regularly sings and plays his guitar with ease. But these few songs he learnt while drinking away his teenage years are linked to the state of being drunk during encoding within his LTM, making their retrieval more enhanced when he isn’t sober.

In a way, being drunk itself could be a retrieval cue to the time in his life when he was regular under the same conditions in Europe and the songs simply come to mind. Furthermore, since he grew used to playing song after song during a given evening, one song could act as a retrieval cue for the next, prompting the memories in succession. Either way, it is clear that the state of being a little tipsy helps Nick retrieve these songs he learned almost two decades ago, drunk in France.

References

Goldstein, E. B. (2015). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience. Cengage Learning.