The temporal contiguity effect (TCE) is the finding that recalling one event often leads to recalling another event originally experienced nearby in time. Theories of episodic memory differ in their explanations of the TCE, attributing the TCE either primarily to fundamental, automatic memory mechanisms or strategic control processes. The TCE has been well-replicated even under incidental encoding conditions, supporting accounts based on automatic mechanisms. However, the size and shape of the TCE varies across tasks and individuals, suggesting the TCE is also affected by strategic control processes. This dissertation tests the predictions of retrieved context models, which propose the TCE results from the automatic mechanisms of association formation during encoding and context reinstatement at retrieval, and accounts that emphasize the role of control processes in determining recall organization. Four experiments were conducted to test the predictions of these two accounts. In Experiment 1, evidence for a TCE was found in an implicit memory test, supporting retrieved context models’ prediction that temporal information is not only automatically encoded but also automatically retrieved. In Experiment 2, a deeper encoding task increased both recall and the TCE as predicted by retrieved context models. However, both recall and the TCE were highest with no assigned encoding task, suggesting control processes also play an important role in recall organization. Experiment 3 directly compared the effect of strategic control processes at encoding and retrieval. The TCE was present in all conditions, but retrieval strategies influenced the degree of both temporal and semantic recall organization. Finally, Experiment 4 tested if temporal information guides recall even when other useful associations are available and task-relevant. Participants primarily displayed temporal organization and did not cluster their recalls based on other kinds of associations even they were task-relevant. Two implementations of retrieved context models were fit to data from Experiments 3 and 4 to test potential implementations of control processes for these models and evaluate the models’ ability to explain organization along multiple dimensions. Together, these experiments suggest a comprehensive theory of memory must include both automatic and controlled mechanisms and point to the need for further development of an integrated model of memory.
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