Carola Wiklund-Hörnqvist

Strengthening concept learning by repeated testing

The aim of this study was to examine whether repeated testing with feedback benefits learning compared to rereading of introductory psychology key-concepts in an educational context. The testing effect was examined immediately after practice, after 18 days, and at a five-week delay in a sample of undergraduate students (n = 83). The results revealed that repeated testing with feedback significantly enhanced learning compared to rereading at all delays, demonstrating that repeated retrieval enhances retention compared to repeated encoding in the short- and the long-term. In addition, the effect of repeated testing was beneficial for students irrespectively of working memory capacity. It is argued that teaching methods involving repeated retrieval are important to consider by the educational system.

Lesser neural pattern similarity across repeated tests is associated with better long-term memory retention

Encoding and retrieval processes enhance long-term memory performance. The efficiency of encoding processes has recently been linked to representational consistency: the reactivation of a representation that gets more specific each time an item is further studied. Here we examined the complementary hypothesis of whether the efficiency of retrieval processes also is linked to representational consistency. Alternatively, recurrent retrieval might foster representational variability—the altering or adding of underlying memory representations. Human participants studied 60 Swahili–Swedish word pairs before being scanned with fMRI the same day and 1 week later. On Day 1, participants were tested three times on each word pair, and on Day 7 each pair was tested once. A BOLD signal change in right superior parietal cortex was associated with subsequent memory on Day 1 and with successful long-term retention on Day 7. A representational similarity analysis in this parietal region revealed that beneficial recurrent retrieval was associated with representational variability, such that the pattern similarity on Day 1 was lower for retrieved words subsequently remembered compared with those subsequently forgotten. This was mirrored by a monotonically decreased BOLD signal change in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on Day 1 as a function of repeated successful retrieval for words subsequently remembered, but not for words subsequently forgotten. This reduction in prefrontal response could reflect reduced demands on cognitive control. Collectively, the results offer novel insights into why memory retention benefits from repeated retrieval, and they suggest fundamental differences between repeated study and repeated testing. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Repeated testing is known to produce superior long-term retention of the to-be-learned material compared with repeated encoding and other learning techniques, much because it fosters repeated memory retrieval. This study demonstrates that repeated memory retrieval might strengthen memory by inducing more differentiated or elaborated memory representations in the parietal cortex, and at the same time reducing demands on prefrontal-cortex-mediated cognitive control processes during retrieval. The findings contrast with recent demonstrations that repeated encoding induces less differentiated or elaborated memory representations. Together, this study suggests a potential neurocognitive explanation of why repeated retrieval is more beneficial for long-term retention than repeated encoding, a phenomenon known as the testing effect.

The association between working memory and educational attainment as measured in different mathematical subtopics in the Swedish national assessment: primary education

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between working memory capacity and mathematical performance measured by the national curriculum assessment in third-grade children (n = 40). The national tests concerned six subareas within mathematics. One-way ANOVA, two-tailed Pearson correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted. The results showed that working memory could be deemed as a predictor for the overall mathematical ability. However, the significance of working memory contributions varied for the different mathematical domains assessed. Working memory contributed most to basic mathematical competencies. Algorithms were not explained significantly by working memory. The contributions of different working memory resources varied as a function of the mathematical domain, but in certain respects the variance was shared across the elements and both visuo-spatial and phonological abilities seem important for mathematic performance. We suggest that individuals’ working memory capacity is important to take into consideration in learning.

Untangling the Contribution of the Subcomponents of Working Memory to Mathematical Proficiency as Measured by the National Tests: A Study among Swedish Third Graders

The aim with the present study was to examine the relationship between the subcomponents in working memory (WM) and mathematical performance, as measured by the National tests in a sample of 597 Swedish third-grade pupils. In line with compelling evidence of other studies, individual differences in WM capacity significantly predicted mathematical performance. Dividing the sample into four groups, based on their mathematical performance, revealed that mathematical ability can be conceptualized in terms of different WM profiles. Pupils categorized as High-math performers particularly differed from the other three groups in having a significant higher phonological ability. In contrast, pupils categorized as Low-math performers were particularly characterized by having a significant lower visuo-spatial ability. Findings suggest that it is important for educators to recognize and acknowledge individual differences in WM to support mathematical achievement at an individual level.

Self-reported memory strategies and their relationship to immediate and delayed text recall and working memory capacity

The aim of this study was to examine the performance of fifth-grade children in the reproduction of the content of a new text directly after they had read it (immediate recall) and one week later (delayed recall), as well as to investigate the relationship between performance, self-reported memory strategies, and working memory capacity (WMC). The results revealed that more complex strategies are associated with better performances, and that children with a high WMC outperformed children with a lower WMC in immediate and delayed text recall tasks. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that memory strategy and WMC are the strongest predictors for both immediate and delayed recall tasks. It is argued that one can use self-reported memory strategies to estimate strategy proficiency. Awareness of the importance of memory strategies and childrens WMC in education are further discussed.

Neural activations associated with feedback and retrieval success

There is substantial behavioral evidence for a phenomenon commonly called “the testing effect”, i.e. superior memory performance after repeated testing compared to re-study of to-be-learned materials. However, considerably less is known about the underlying neuro-cognitive processes that are involved in the initial testing phase, and thus underlies the actual testing effect. Here, we investigated functional brain activity related to test-enhanced learning with feedback. Subjects learned foreign vocabulary across three consecutive tests with correct-answer feedback. Functional brain-activity responses were analyzed in relation to retrieval and feedback events, respectively. Results revealed up-regulated activity in fronto-striatal regions during the first successful retrieval, followed by a marked reduction in activity as a function of improved learning. Whereas feedback improved behavioral performance across consecutive tests, feedback had a negligable role after the first successful retrieval for functional brain-activity modulations. It is suggested that the beneficial effects of test-enhanced learning is regulated by feedback-induced updating of memory representations, mediated via the striatum, that might underlie the stabilization of memory commonly seen in behavioral studies of the testing effect.Neuroscience: Test-enhanced learning with feedbackRepeated testing with feedback shapes functional brain activity and strengthens new learning. A team led by Carola Wiklund-Hörnqvist at Umeå University, tracked brain activity in humans while being repeatedly tested with or without feedback. Higher hippocampal activity was found for feedback compared to no feedback, and learning from feedback was related to increased activity predominantly in the insula. For retrieval success, up-regulated activity in fronto-striatal regions was evident at the first successful retrieval with a marked decrease across consecutive tests. Those results indicate that while both feedback and retrieval success are key aspects that foster the “testing effect”; they operate at different functional levels in the brain. Future studies are needed to further explore the efficiency of test-enhanced learning in relation to individual variation in cognitive proficiency.

The Testing Effect and Its Relation to Working Memory Capacity and Personality Characteristics

Retrieval practice is known to lead to better retention of a to-be-learned material than restudy (i.e., the testing effect). However, few studies have investigated retrieval practice in relation to working memory capacity (WMC) and personality characteristics such as grittiness (Grit) and need for cognition (NFC). In two experiments, we examined retrieval practice and restudy of Swahili–Swedish word pairs in relation to individual differences in Grit and NFC. In Experiment 1, using a between-subjects design, a significant main effect of retention interval was qualified by a Group × Retention Interval interaction. However, there were no effects of Grit or NFC. In Experiment 2, a within-subjects design was used, and a measure of WMC was included. The analyses revealed a testing effect; but again, WMC, Grit, and NFC were not significantly associated with performance. These results indicate that retrieval practice levels out the playing field regarding WMC, NFC, and Grit.