Sean H. K. Kang

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

We investigated the effects of format of an initial test and whether or not students received corrective feedback on that test on a final test of retention 3 days later. In Experiment 1, subjects studied four short journal papers. Immediately after reading each paper, they received either a multiple choice (MC) test, a short answer (SA) test, a list of statements to read, or a filler task. The MC test, SA test, and list of statements tapped identical facts from the studied material. No feedback was provided during the initial tests. On a final test 3 days later (consisting of MC and SA questions), having had an intervening MC test led to better performance than an intervening SA test, but the intervening MC condition did not differ significantly from the read statements condition. To better equate exposure to test-relevant information, corrective feedback during the initial tests was introduced in Experiment 2. With feedback provided, having had an intervening SA test led to the best performance on the final test, suggesting that the more demanding the retrieval processes engendered by the intervening test, the greater the benefit to final retention. The practical application of these findings is that regular SA quizzes with feedback may be more effective in enhancing student learning than repeated presentation of target facts or taking an MC quiz.

The mnemonic advantage of processing fitness-relevant information

Nairne, Thompson, and Pandeirada (2007) proposed that our memory systems serve an adaptive function and that they have evolved to help us remember fitness-relevant information. In a series of experiments, they demonstrated that processing words according to their survival relevance resulted in better retention than did rating them for pleasantness, personal relevance, or relevance to moving to a new house. The aim of the present study was to examine whether the advantage of survival processing could be replicated, using a control condition that was designed to match the survival processing task in arousal, novelty, and media exposure—the relevance to planning a bank heist. We found that survival processing nonetheless yielded better retention on both a recall (Experiment 1) and a recognition (Experiment 2) test. This mnemonic advantage of survival processing was also obtained when words were rated for their relevance to a character depicted in a video clip (Experiment 3). Our findings provide additional evidence that the mnemonic benefit of survival processing is a robust phenomenon, and they also support the utility of adopting a functional perspective in investigating memory.

Congruity effects between materials and processing tasks in the survival processing paradigm.

Nairne, Thompson, and Pandeirada (2007) reported a series of experiments in which processing unrelated words in terms of their relevance to a grasslands survival scenario led to better retention relative to other semantic processing tasks. The impetus for their study was the premise that human memory systems evolved under the selection pressures of our ancestral past. In 3 experiments, we extended this functional approach to investigate the congruity effect-the common finding that people remember items better if those items are congruent with the way in which they are processed. Experiment 1 was a replication of Nairne et al.s (2007) experiment and showed congruity effects in the survival processing paradigm. To avoid potential item-selection artifacts from randomly selected words, we manipulated congruence between words and processing condition in Experiments 2 and 3. As expected, final recall was highest when the type of processing and the materials were congruent, indicating that people remember stimuli better if the stimuli are congruent with the goals associated with their processing. However, contrary to our predictions, no survival processing advantage emerged between the 2 congruent conditions or for a list of irrelevant words. When congruity was controlled in a mixed list design, the survival processing advantage disappeared.

Enhancing visuospatial learning: The benefit of retrieval practice

Studies examining the beneficial effect of testing on memory have relied almost exclusively on verbal materials. Whether testing can improve the learning of novel, abstract visuospatial information was investigated, using Chinese characters as study stimuli. Subjects with no prior Chinese language experience studied English words paired with their Chinese equivalents. Subsequently, they either restudied the pairs twice or attempted to retrieve covertly the Chinese characters twice (with feedback provided afterward). The durations of the study and the retrieval/feedback trials were equated. On a final test given after 10 min (Experiment 1) or 24 h (Experiment 2), the subjects who had practiced retrieval were more accurate at writing/drawing the Chinese characters than were those who had studied repeatedly. The same result was replicated when learning condition was manipulated within subjects (Experiment 3). In predictions of future performance made after training, however, the subjects seemed unaware that retrieval practice was more effective than repeated studying. Testing enhances visuospatial learning, with potential implications for learning a foreign language that uses a writing script different from one’s language: Repeated retrieval from memory trumps repeated studying.

Effects of testing on learning of functions

Is learning of a complex functional relationship enhanced by trying to predict what output will go with a given input, as compared to studying an input–output pair? We examined learning of a bilinear function and transfer to new items outside the trained range. Subjects either saw the input–output pairs (study-only condition) or attempted to guess the output and then saw the pair (test/study condition). The total study times were equated, and motivation was enhanced with a monetary bonus. Performance was markedly better for the test/study condition, both within the trained range and in the transfer test. This benefit of testing during training was observed on a criterial test administered shortly after training. Testing has long been shown to enhance the explicit learning and retention of verbal material; our present findings reveal a novel domain for which testing can also be advantageous—that is, function learning.

Retrieval practice over the long term: Should spacing be expanding or equal-interval?

If multiple opportunities are available to review to-be-learned material, should a review occur soon after initial study and recur at progressively expanding intervals, or should the reviews occur at equal intervals? Landauer and Bjork (1978) argued for the superiority of expanding intervals, whereas more recent research has often failed to find any advantage. However, these prior studies have generally compared expanding versus equal-interval training within a single session, and have assessed effects only upon a single final test. We argue that a more generally important goal would be to maintain high average performance over a considerable period of training. For the learning of foreign vocabulary spread over four weeks, we found that expanding retrieval practice (i.e., sessions separated by increasing numbers of days) produced recall equivalent to that from equal-interval practice on a final test given eight weeks after training. However, the expanding schedule yielded much higher average recallability over the whole training period.

Don't just repeat after me: Retrieval practice is better than imitation for foreign vocabulary learning

Second language (L2) instruction programs often ask learners to repeat aloud words spoken by a native speaker. However, recent research on retrieval practice has suggested that imitating native pronunciation might be less effective than drill instruction, wherein the learner is required to produce the L2 words from memory (and given feedback). We contrasted the effectiveness of imitation and retrieval practice drills on learning L2 spoken vocabulary. Learners viewed pictures of objects and heard their names; in the imitation condition, they heard and then repeated aloud each name, whereas in the retrieval practice condition, they tried to produce the name before hearing it. On a final test administered either immediately after training (Exp. 1) or after a 2-day delay (Exp. 2), retrieval practice produced better comprehension of the L2 words, better ability to produce the L2 words, and no loss of pronunciation quality.

Spaced Repetition Promotes Efficient and Effective Learning: Policy Implications for Instruction

Concern that students in the United States are less proficient in mathematics, science, and reading than their peers in other countries has led some to question whether American students spend enough time in school. Instead of debating the amount of time that should be spent in school (and on schoolwork), this article addresses how the available instructional time might be optimally utilized via the scheduling of review or practice. Hundreds of studies in cognitive and educational psychology have demonstrated that spacing out repeated encounters with the material over time produces superior long-term learning, compared with repetitions that are massed together. Also, incorporating tests into spaced practice amplifies the benefits. Spaced review or practice enhances diverse forms of learning, including memory, problem solving, and generalization to new situations. Spaced practice is a feasible and cost-effective way to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of learning, and has tremendous potential to improve educational outcomes. The article also discusses barriers to adopting spaced practice, recent developments, and their possible implications.

Pathway control in visual word processing: Converging evidence from recognition memory

The extent to which readers can exert strategic control over oral reading processes is a matter of debate. According to the pathway control hypothesis, the relative contributions of the lexical and nonlexical pathways can be modulated by the characteristics of the context stimuli being read, but an alternative time criterion model is also a viable explanation of past results. In Experiment 1, subjects named high- and low-frequency regular words in the context of either low-frequency exception words (e.g., pint) or nonwords (e.g., flirp). Frequency effects (faster pronunciation latencies for high-frequency words) were attenuated in the nonword context, consistent with the notion that nonwords emphasize the characteristics of the frequency-insensitive nonlexical pathway. Importantly, we also assessed memory for targets, and a similar attenuation of the frequency effect in recognition memory was observed in the nonword condition. Converging evidence was obtained in a second experiment in which a variable that was more sensitive to the nonlexical pathway (orthographic neighborhood size) was manipulated. The results indicated that both speeded pronunciation performance and memory performance were relatively attenuated in the low-frequency exception word context in comparision with the nonword context. The opposing influences of list context type for word frequency and orthographic neighborhood size effects in speeded pronunciation and memory performance provide strong support for the pathway control model, as opposed to the time criterion model.