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Testing strengthens recall whether something's on the test or not |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: In three experiments, psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis determined that testing enhanced long-term recall for material that was not tested initially. Untested students recalled significantly less of what they'd studied -- even after having extra time to go over the material. This confirmation of how mid-term or final-exam type tests foster learning is reported in the November issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, published by the American Psychological Association (APA). In the first experiment, 84 undergraduates were given 25 minutes to study a long factual article about the biological characteristics and living habits of the toucan bird. Students in an "extra study" group read 22 additional statements about toucans, essentially giving them a head start -- though they did not take a test. The lead author, doctoral student Jason Chan, MA, points out that the 24-hour interval simulated the way most students cram the day before a test. Students tested on related questions on Day 1 significantly outperformed, on the new questions, both students who had received extra study on Day 1 and students in the control group. In response, accurate recall of the new questions on Day 2 increased with time spent on answering questions on Day 1. This relation was especially pronounced for students with lower performance on the test, highlighting the value of giving students -- particularly struggling students -- ample time during exams. Also, students who were encouraged to guess during Day 1's test (an all-inclusive strategy) did significantly better on Day 2 than did students who were discouraged from guessing. APA's membership includes more than 150,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students.
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