Specificity of processing describes the increased recall value of a stimulus when presented in the method with which it was inputteddinputted. For example, auditory stimuli (spoken words and sounds) have the highest recall value when spoken, and visual stimuli have the highest recall value when a subject is presented with images.<ref name = Vaidya2002>{{Cite journal| volume = 40| pages = 2136–2143| last = Vaidya| first = CJ |author2=Zhao M |author3=Desmond JE |author4=Gabrieli JDE | title = Evidence for cortical encoding specificity in episodic memory: memory-induced re-activation of picture processing areas | journal = Neuropsychologia | year = 2002 | url = http://web.mit.edu/gabrieli-lab/Publications/2002/Vaidya.Neuropsy.2002.pdf | doi = 10.1016/S0028-3932(02)00053-2 | pmid = 12208009| issue = 12 | s2cid = 17108548}}</ref> In writing tasks, words are recalled most effectively with semantic cues (asking for words with a particular meaning) if they are encoded semantically (self-generated by the subject as being related to a particular meaning). Words are recalled most effectively with data-driven cues (word completion) if they are read, rather than generated by a subject.<ref>{{Cite journal| volume = 15| issue = 4| pages = 657–668| last = Blaxton| first = TA| title = Investigating dissociations among memory measures: Support for a transfer-appropriate processing framework| journal = Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition | year = 1989| url = http://www.colby.edu/psychology/ps341fa06/papers/Blaxton,%201989.pdf | doi = 10.1037/0278-7393.15.4.657 }}</ref>
