Final Test Performance Research Articles

Testing the retrieval effort hypothesis: Does greater difficulty correctly recalling information lead to higher levels of memory?

Although substantial research has demonstrated the benefits of retrieval practice for promoting memory, very few studies have tested theoretical accounts of this effect. Across two experiments, we tested a hypothesis that follows from the desirable difficulty framework [Bjork, R. A. (1994). Memory and metamemory considerations in the training of human beings. In J. Metcalfe, A. Shimamura, (Eds.), Metacognition: Knowing about knowing (pp. 185–205). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press], the retrieval effort hypothesis, which states that difficult but successful retrievals are better for memory than easier successful retrievals. To test the hypothesis, we set up conditions under which retrieval during practice was successful but differentially difficult. Interstimulus interval (ISI) and criterion level (number of times items were required to be correctly retrieved) were manipulated to vary the difficulty of retrieval. In support of the retrieval effort hypothesis, results indicated that as the difficulty of retrieval during practice increased, final test performance increased. Longer versus shorter ISIs led to more difficulty retrieving items, but higher levels of final test performance. Additionally, as criterion level increased, retrieval was less difficult, and diminishing returns for final test performance were observed.

Spacing Effects in Learning

To achieve enduring retention, people must usually study information on multiple occasions. How does the timing of study events affect retention? Prior research has examined this issue only in a spotty fashion, usually with very short time intervals. In a study aimed at characterizing spacing effects over significant durations, more than 1,350 individuals were taught a set of facts and—after a gap of up to 3.5 months—given a review. A final test was administered at a further delay of up to 1 year. At any given test delay, an increase in the interstudy gap at first increased, and then gradually reduced, final test performance. The optimal gap increased as test delay increased. However, when measured as a proportion of test delay, the optimal gap declined from about 20 to 40% of a 1-week test delay to about 5 to 10% of a 1-year test delay. The interaction of gap and test delay implies that many educational practices are highly inefficient.

Design and Performance of a New Magnetized Magnet Block on EPU Structure

A prototype of an Apple-II elliptically polarized undulator (EPU4.6), of length 0.46 m, has been constructed to test the performance of the newly designed magnet block, which was magnetized at a tilt angle 10. The magnet design and various mechanism analysis are performed to clarify the error source of multipole field components. Good end pole design in the EPU4.6 revealed the variation of the first integral field strength as function of gap and phase is minimized. Shimming algorithm had been used to improve the field quality and phase error. We report here the scheme of the magnetized block arrangement, an analysis of the design mechanism, the end pole design, field shimming and the final test performance using the Hall-probe mapping system.

A cognitive-science based programme to enhance study efficacy in a high and low risk setting

In three experiments, learning performance in a 6- or 7-week cognitive-science based computer-study programme was compared to equal time spent self-studying on paper. The first two experiments were conducted with grade 6 and 7 children in a high risk educational setting, the third with Columbia University undergraduates. The principles the programme implemented included (1) deep, meaningful, elaborative, multimodal processing, (2) transfer-appropriate processing, (3) self-generation and multiple testing of responses, and (4) spaced practice. The programme was also designed to thwart metacognitive illusions that would otherwise lead to inappropriate study patterns. All three experiments showed a distinct advantage in final test performance for the cognitive-science based programme, but this advantage was particularly prominent in the children.

Expectation of a final cumulative test enhances long-term retention

In the present study, subjects studied lists of words across four experimental conditions: whether (or not) subjects received initial testing for these lists and whether (or not) they were made aware of an upcoming final free-recall test. Initial testing enhanced final-test performance; however, subjects benefited more from initial testing when they also knew they would need to remember the information for a later test. The data suggest that holding an expectation of the final test encouraged the continued processing of study materials following an initial test, affecting the accessibility of these materials at the time of final recall. The results clearly illustrate how an expectation of a cumulative test might influence long-term retention, which may have important implications for educational practice.

The effect of type and timing of feedback on learning from multiple-choice tests.

Two experiments investigated how the type and timing of feedback influence learning from a multiple-choice test. First, participants read 12 prose passages, which covered various general knowledge topics (e.g., The Sun) and ranged between 280 and 300 words in length. Next, they took an initial six-alternative, multiple-choice test on information contained in the passages. Feedback was given immediately for some of the multiple-choice items or after delay for other items. Participants were either shown the correct answer as feedback (standard feedback) or were allowed to keep answering until the correct answer was discovered (answer-until-correct feedback). Learning from the test was assessed on a delayed cued-recall test. The results indicated that delayed feedback led to superior final test performance relative to immediate feedback. However, type of feedback did not matter: discovering the correct answer through answer-until-correct feedback produced equivalent performance relative to standard feedback. This research suggests that delaying the presentation of feedback after a test is beneficial to learning because of the spaced presentation of information.

Effects of pretraining on subsequent cycloheximide induced amnesia

In the first experiment, mice were trained on a passive avoidance (PA) task, given one extinction trial, and then were injected with cycloheximide or saline shortly before retraining on the PA task. On a subsequent test trial, the performance of the cycloheximide group was inferior to the saline group, but superior to a cycloheximide group not given the pretraining experience. In the second experiment, one group of mice was given cycloheximide before each of two training sessions while another group received cycloheximide before the first training session and saline before the second. The group given cycloheximide before each training session was amnesic for both sessions to an equal degree, while the other group was amnesic for only the first session. The final test performance of the latter group was similar to that of a saline group not given any pretraining experience. These data seem to indicate that pretraining has limited effect on subsequent cycloheximide induced amnesia, and that such amnesia is the result of impaired memory formation rather than impaired memory retrieval.