ABSTRACT:The goal of this study was to design a human-computer interface that would increase the memorability of information presented by providing context as compared with memory with no context. Our focus was in augmenting context-dependent memory because it is a powerful and often unexploited characteristic of human cognition. To amplify this cognitive strength, we built the InfoCockpit, which included a large screen containing projected images of places, a three-dimensional surround-sound system that played ambient noises congruent with the projected images, and a flat-panel monitor that served as the focal display for the presentation of the to-be-remembered information. Participants in our study learned and recalled information in either the InfoCockpit or a standard desktop environment. The InfoCockpit group demonstrated a 131% memory advantage. Contextual factors that were previously found to be effective in isolation created a large effect when presented in combination.CONTEXT-DEPENDENT MEMORY REFERS TO THE FINDING THAT PEOPLE ARE OFTEN BETTER AT remembering information if they return to the place where it was encountered or if they imagine themselves to be in that place. To experience this phenomenon, try to remember what you had for lunch on Wednesday of last week. An effective retrieval strategy is first to recall what you were doing last Wednesday and where you were when you had lunch.Research on context-dependent memory finds consistent advantages for reinstating context