scholarly journals Testing Effect

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-36
Author(s):  
Olesya Senkova ◽  
Hajime Otani ◽  
Reid L. Skeel ◽  
Renée L. Babcock
Keyword(s):  
Testing Effect ◽  
Cued Recall ◽  
Online Classes ◽  
Open Book ◽  
Test Format ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Book Versus ◽  
Long Term Retention ◽  
Book Format

Abstract. If assessment is the purpose of testing, open-book tests may defeat the purpose. However, a goal of education is to build knowledge, and based on the literature, open-book tests may not be inferior to closed-book tests in promoting long-term retention of information. Participants studied Swahili-English pairs and either re-studied or took an initial quiz, which was cued recall or recognition in an open-book or closed-book format. One week later, the final closed-book recognition test showed higher performance in the quizzed conditions than in the study-twice condition, replicating the testing effect. However, performance was similar across the quizzed conditions, indicating that testing promoted long-term retention regardless of test format (open-book versus closed-book) and test type (cued recall versus recognition). Open-book tests are not inferior to closed-book tests in building knowledge and can be particularly useful in online classes because preventing cheating is difficult when closed-book tests are administered online.

scholarly journals A Systematic Review of the Testing Effect in Learning

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (56) ◽  
pp. 397-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel Eloisa Eisenkraemer ◽  
Antonio Jaeger ◽  
Lilian Milnitsky Stein
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Testing Effect ◽  
Web Of Science ◽  
Theoretical Explanation ◽  
Test Format ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Acute Increase ◽  
Long Term Retention

The retrieval of a given piece of information from memory increases the long-term retention of that information, a phenomenon often called “testing effect”. The current study aimed to select and review articles on the testing effect to verify the extent and importance of this phenomenon, bringing the main results of recent research. To accomplish this, a systematic review of articles on this subject published between 2006 and 2012 was conducted, a period in which there was an acute increase in the amount of publications on this subject. The articles were searched in the databases Web of Science, PubMed and PsycINFO. The results, which were organized according to test format (recall and recognition tests), demonstrated that tests can be remarkably beneficial to the retention of long-term memories. A theoretical explanation regarding the cognitive processes involved in this phenomenon still needs to be developed and tested. Such explanation would have important implications for the development of efficient educational practices.

Individual and Combined Effects of Enactment and Testing on Memory for Action Phrases

2014 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 347-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veit Kubik ◽  
Hedvig Söderlund ◽  
Lars-Göran Nilsson ◽  
Fredrik U. Jönsson
Keyword(s):  
Testing Effect ◽  
Cued Recall ◽  
Combined Effects ◽  
Additive Effects ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Long Term Retention ◽  
Retention Intervals ◽  
Study Techniques ◽  
The Individual

We investigated the individual and combined effects of enactment and testing on memory for action phrases to address whether both study techniques commonly promote item-specific processing. Participants (N = 112) were divided into four groups (n = 28). They either exclusively studied 36 action phrases (e.g., “lift the glass”) or both studied and cued-recalled them in four trials. During study trials participants encoded the action phrases either by motorically performing them, or by reading them aloud, and they took final verb-cued recall tests over 18-min and 1-week retention intervals. A testing effect was demonstrated for action phrases, however, only when they were verbally encoded, and not when they were enacted. Similarly, enactive (relative to verbal) encoding reduced the rate of forgetting, but only when the action phrases were exclusively studied, and not when they were also tested. These less-than-additive effects of enactment and testing on the rate of forgetting, as well as on long-term retention, support the notion that both study techniques effectively promote item-specific processing that can only be marginally increased further by combining them.

Putting action into testing: Enacted retrieval benefits long-term retention more than covert retrieval

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (12) ◽  
pp. 2093-2105
Author(s):  
Veit Kubik ◽  
Fredrik U Jönsson ◽  
Mario de Jonge ◽  
Artin Arshamian
Keyword(s):  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Testing Effect ◽  
Recall Test ◽  
Retrieval Practice ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Cued Recall ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Long Term Retention ◽  
Motor Actions

Retrieval practice improves long-term retention. However, it is currently debated if this testing effect can be further enhanced by overtly producing recalled responses. We addressed this issue using a standard cued-recall testing-effect paradigm with verb–noun action phrases (e.g., water the plant) to prompt motor actions as a specifically powerful response format of recall. We then tested whether motorically performing the recalled verb targets (e.g., ?–the plant) during an initial recall test ( enacted retrieval) led to better long-term retention than silently retrieving them ( covert retrieval) or restudying the complete verb–noun phrases ( restudy). The results demonstrated a direct testing effect, in that long-term retention was enhanced for covert retrieval practice compared to restudy practice. Critically, enactment during retrieval further improved long-term retention beyond the effect of covert memory retrieval, both in a congruent noun-cued recall test after 1 week (Experiment 1) and in an incongruent verb-cued recall test of nouns after 2 weeks (Experiment 2). This finding suggests that successful memory retrieval and ensuing enactment contribute to future memory performance in parts via different mechanisms.

Long-term retention is greater following closed-book tests than open-book tests

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pooja K. Agarwal ◽  
Jeffrey D. Karpicke ◽  
Sean H. Kang ◽  
Henry L. Roediger ◽  
Kathleen B. McDermott
Keyword(s):  
Open Book ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Long Term Retention

scholarly journals Does pre-testing promote better retention than post-testing?

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Latimier ◽  
Arnaud Riegert ◽  
Hugo Peyre ◽  
Son Thierry Ly ◽  
Roberto Casati ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Testing Effect ◽  
Retrieval Practice ◽  
Initial Exposure ◽  
Testing Effects ◽  
Learning Content ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Reading Condition ◽  
Long Term Retention

Abstract Compared with other learning strategies, retrieval practice seems to promote superior long-term retention. This has been found mostly in conditions where learners take tests after being exposed to learning content. However, a pre-testing effect has also been demonstrated, with promising results. This raises the question, for a given amount of time dedicated to retrieval practice, whether learners should be tested before or after an initial exposure to learning content. Our experiment directly compares the benefits of post-testing and pre-testing relative to an extended reading condition, on a retention test 7 days later. We replicated both post-testing (d = 0.74) and pre-testing effects (d = 0.35), with significantly better retention in the former condition. Post-testing also promoted knowledge transfer to previously untested questions, whereas pre-testing did not. Our results thus suggest that it may be more fruitful to test students after than before exposure to learning content.

Test format and corrective feedback modify the effect of testing on long-term retention

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 528-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean H. K. Kang ◽  
Kathleen B. McDermott ◽  
Henry L. Roediger
Keyword(s):  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Test Format ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Long Term Retention

Long-Term Retention of Plausible vs Bizarre Paired Associates as a Function of Cued Recall

1988 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 531-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Iaccino ◽  
Pamela Spirek
Keyword(s):  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Recall Test ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Cued Recall ◽  
Paired Associates ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Long Term Retention ◽  
Bizarre Imagery ◽  
Over Time

Past research has shown that bizarre imagery facilitates long-term recall of noun pairs. An experiment was executed to investigate the effects of bizarreness when more pronounced delays were used. Undergraduate subjects were shown 30 plausible and 30 bizarre scenes, asked to rate the pictures on their own image scale, and were then given an unexpected recall test 1 or 2 wk. later. Analysis indicated that bizarre images aided recall only under the 2-wk. delay. We have suggested that interference over time may be less with bizarre images, especially when an incidental learning paradigm is employed.

Recognition and Recall as Measures of Long-Term Retention

1975 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo Postman ◽  
Elizabeth Kruesi ◽  
Joan Regan
Keyword(s):  
Original Learning ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Cued Recall ◽  
Paired Associates ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Long Term Retention

Acquisition and retention of a list of paired associates were measured either by cued recall or by multiple-choice recognition. The method of testing used during original learning was combined factorially with the type of test administered after a 1-week interval. Speed of learning to criterion under the two procedures was comparable. Long-term recognition was substantially higher than recall. This difference did not interact significantly with the method of learning. Recall benefited substantially from a prior test of recognition, but there was little effect when the order of tests was reversed. It is concluded that (a) both occurrence and retrieval information were stored under each condition of learning, and (b) occurrence information is less subject to forgetting than retrieval information.

scholarly journals Electrical Brain Stimulation During a Retrieval-Based Learning Task Can Impair Long-Term Memory

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley Pyke ◽  
Athanasios Vostanis ◽  
Amir-Homayoun Javadi
Keyword(s):  
Brain Stimulation ◽  
Cued Recall ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Anodal Tdcs ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Learning Speed ◽  
Long Term Retention

AbstractAnodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been shown to improve performance on a multitude of cognitive tasks. These are, however, often simple tasks, testing only one cognitive domain at a time. Therefore, the efficacy of brain stimulation for complex tasks has yet to be understood. Using a task designed to increase learning efficiency, this study investigates whether anodal tDCS over the left DLPFC can modulate both learning ability and subsequent long-term memory retention. Using a within-subject design, participants (N = 25) took part in 6 training sessions over consecutive days in which active or sham stimulation was administered randomly (3 of each). A computer-based task was used, containing flags from countries unknown to the participants. Each training session consisted of the repetition of 8 pairs of flag/country names. Subsequently, in three testing sessions, free, cued, and timed cued recall, participants were assessed on all 48 flags they had learnt. No difference in learning speed between active and sham tDCS was found. Furthermore, in the timed cued recall phase, flags learnt in the sham tDCS sessions were recalled significantly better than flags learnt in the active tDCS sessions. This effect was stronger in the second testing session. It was also found that for the flags answered incorrectly; thus, meaning they were presented more frequently, subsequent long-term retention was improved. These results suggest that for a complex task, anodal tDCS is ineffective at improving learning speed and potentially detrimental to long-term retention when employed during encoding. This serves to highlight the complex nature of brain stimulation, providing a greater understanding of its limitations and drawbacks.

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