What do we know from studies on the encoding-specificity principle?

The encoding specificity principle shows that memories are linked to the context in which they are created. It states that it's easier to recall information when you are in the same context in which you memorized or studied it (Thomson & Tulving, 1970) studied how incidental learning (not instructed to memorize, surprise testing) to study whether weak cues or strong cues are more efficient for retrieval. Weak ques being words not associated with the target word. Ground - Cold instead of Hot - Cold (Strong que).