a condition in which memory for a past event is improved when the person is in the same biological or psychological state as when the memory was initially formed. For example, alcohol may improve one’s recall of events experienced when one was previously under the influence of alcohol (although this level of recall is lower than recall under conditions in which both encoding and retrieval occur in sober states). A distinctive state may arise from a drug, a mood, or a particular place. See context-specific learning; mood-dependent memory; state-dependent learning.