The pretesting effect: do unsuccessful retrieval attempts enhance learning?

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Retrieval practice is known to enhance long-term memory.
• Previous research focused on the benefits of successful memory retrieval.
• The impact of unsuccessful retrieval attempts on learning remained less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of unsuccessful retrieval attempts on subsequent learning.
• To determine if testing, even without successful recall, improves memory.
• To differentiate the effects of testing from mere attention direction.

Main Methods:

• Five experiments were conducted using an essay about vision.
• Participants were pretested on concepts before reading (test condition) or given extended study time (study condition).
• To control for attention, tested concepts were highlighted, and in one experiment, questions were presented without requiring answers before reading.

Main Results:

• Posttest performance was consistently better in the test condition compared to the extended study condition across all experiments.
• This pretesting effect was observed even when analyzing only items that were not successfully retrieved during the pretest.
• The findings suggest a benefit of testing beyond successful recall.

Conclusions:

• Unsuccessful retrieval attempts play a role in enhancing future learning.
• The testing effect is partly attributable to the learning benefits derived from failed recall.
• This research provides evidence for the value of retrieval practice, even when initially unsuccessful.