Which means that in order to best recall information, you need to be in same state as when you learnt it.
An ex-Met Police Training sergeant once told me how he was given a remedial class to bring up to speed.
He decided to use anchors so instructed students when studying to have with them a tissue with a few drops of peppermint oil on it. During studies, the students were instructed to sniff the tissue now and again. Then, in the exam, they were told to take the tissue with them and to sniff it whenever they needed to recall details. The result was that on average, the marks went up by 25%.
The British Athletic Team also used ’smell anchors’ in the Olympics. They took the form of a wristband which had been used during training. Whenever they achieved a personal best or recorded a good time or felt totally unbeatable, they took a sniff of their wristband. Again, looking at the TV coverage, you might see them sniff their wristband when lining up for their event in order to get them ‘into the zone’. They may have got into the zone but that year the medal count was a bit disappointing.
Another example was when researchers looked for a rugby club that would volunteer to go out and get drunk. After several months they found a volunteer club and got them all drunk, took them into a kitchen and showed them how to bake a cake.
A month later, the rugby players were split into two groups. One group was sent to the kitchen to bake that cake again. The others were taken to the pub first and then sent to the kitchen. The result: The drunken players produced better cakes than the sober players because they were in same state as when they were taught.