A combination of restudy and retrieval practice maximizes retention of briefly encountered facts
IntroductionIs retrieval practice always superior to restudy? In a classic study by Roediger and Karpicke, long-term retention of information contained in prose passages was found to be best when opportunities to restudy were replaced with opportunities to self-test. We were interested whether this...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Cognition |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2023.1258955/full |
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| author | Stefania R. Ashby Stefania R. Ashby Dagmar Zeithamova |
| author_facet | Stefania R. Ashby Stefania R. Ashby Dagmar Zeithamova |
| author_sort | Stefania R. Ashby |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionIs retrieval practice always superior to restudy? In a classic study by Roediger and Karpicke, long-term retention of information contained in prose passages was found to be best when opportunities to restudy were replaced with opportunities to self-test. We were interested whether this striking benefit for repeated testing at the expense of any restudy replicates when study opportunities are brief, akin to a single mention of a fact in an academic lecture. We were also interested in whether restudying after a test would provide any additional benefits compared to restudying before test.MethodIn the current study, participants encountered academically relevant facts a total of three times; each time either studied (S) or self-tested (T). During study, participants predicted how likely they were to remember each fact in the future. During self-test, participants performed covert cued recall and self-reported their recall success. Final test followed immediately or after a delay (Experiment 1: 2 days, Experiment 2: 7 days).ResultsContrary to prior work, long-term memory was superior for facts the were restudied in addition to self-tested (SST > STT = SSS). We further investigated whether restudy after a test (STS) provides additional benefits compared to restudy before test (SST). Restudying after a retrieval attempt provided an additional benefit compared to restudying before a retrieval attempt on an immediate test, but this benefit did not carry over a delay. Finally, exploratory analyses indicated that restudy after test improved the accuracy of participants' subjective predictions of encoding success.DiscussionTogether, our results qualify prior work on the benefits of repeated testing, indicating that balancing testing with repetition may allow for more information to be learned and retained. These findings offer new insights into the conditions that promote encoding and long-term retention, provide new constraints for existing cognitive theories of testing effects, and have practical implications for education. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T18:36:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-48deace985594ef3b499777185f02ff4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2813-4532 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-03-21T00:37:38Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Cognition |
| spelling | doaj.art-48deace985594ef3b499777185f02ff42024-08-03T06:36:23ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Cognition2813-45322023-10-01210.3389/fcogn.2023.12589551258955A combination of restudy and retrieval practice maximizes retention of briefly encountered factsStefania R. Ashby0Stefania R. Ashby1Dagmar Zeithamova2Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, United StatesNeuroscience Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United StatesIntroductionIs retrieval practice always superior to restudy? In a classic study by Roediger and Karpicke, long-term retention of information contained in prose passages was found to be best when opportunities to restudy were replaced with opportunities to self-test. We were interested whether this striking benefit for repeated testing at the expense of any restudy replicates when study opportunities are brief, akin to a single mention of a fact in an academic lecture. We were also interested in whether restudying after a test would provide any additional benefits compared to restudying before test.MethodIn the current study, participants encountered academically relevant facts a total of three times; each time either studied (S) or self-tested (T). During study, participants predicted how likely they were to remember each fact in the future. During self-test, participants performed covert cued recall and self-reported their recall success. Final test followed immediately or after a delay (Experiment 1: 2 days, Experiment 2: 7 days).ResultsContrary to prior work, long-term memory was superior for facts the were restudied in addition to self-tested (SST > STT = SSS). We further investigated whether restudy after a test (STS) provides additional benefits compared to restudy before test (SST). Restudying after a retrieval attempt provided an additional benefit compared to restudying before a retrieval attempt on an immediate test, but this benefit did not carry over a delay. Finally, exploratory analyses indicated that restudy after test improved the accuracy of participants' subjective predictions of encoding success.DiscussionTogether, our results qualify prior work on the benefits of repeated testing, indicating that balancing testing with repetition may allow for more information to be learned and retained. These findings offer new insights into the conditions that promote encoding and long-term retention, provide new constraints for existing cognitive theories of testing effects, and have practical implications for education.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2023.1258955/fullretrieval practicetesting effectslong-term memoryforgettingmetamemory |
| spellingShingle | Stefania R. Ashby Stefania R. Ashby Dagmar Zeithamova A combination of restudy and retrieval practice maximizes retention of briefly encountered facts Frontiers in Cognition retrieval practice testing effects long-term memory forgetting metamemory |
| title | A combination of restudy and retrieval practice maximizes retention of briefly encountered facts |
| title_full | A combination of restudy and retrieval practice maximizes retention of briefly encountered facts |
| title_fullStr | A combination of restudy and retrieval practice maximizes retention of briefly encountered facts |
| title_full_unstemmed | A combination of restudy and retrieval practice maximizes retention of briefly encountered facts |
| title_short | A combination of restudy and retrieval practice maximizes retention of briefly encountered facts |
| title_sort | combination of restudy and retrieval practice maximizes retention of briefly encountered facts |
| topic | retrieval practice testing effects long-term memory forgetting metamemory |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcogn.2023.1258955/full |
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