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Optimizing retrieval as a learning event: when and why expanding retrieval practice enhances long-term retention.
Benjamin C Storm1, Robert A Bjork, Jennifer C Storm
1University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois 60607-7137, USA. bstorm@uic.edu
Memory & Cognition
|February 23, 2010
Summary
Retrieval practice aids future recall. Expanding retrieval schedules improve memory recall only when learning is highly susceptible to forgetting, suggesting a context-dependent benefit.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Educational Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Retrieval practice enhances long-term memory recall.
- Expanding-interval retrieval schedules are traditionally assumed optimal.
- Recent research questions expanding schedules' superiority over uniform intervals for long retention intervals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effectiveness of expanding vs. uniform retrieval intervals.
- To determine conditions under which expanding retrieval practice is beneficial.
- To examine the role of interference in retrieval practice efficacy.
Main Methods:
- Participants studied educational passages.
- Repeated, feedback-less testing occurred after expanding or uniform intervals.
- Memory recall was assessed after a one-week retention interval.
Main Results:
- Expanding retrieval schedules enhanced recall after one week.
- This benefit was observed only when intervening tasks significantly interfered with memory.
- Uniform schedules were not consistently inferior.
Conclusions:
- The benefit of expanding retrieval practice is context-dependent.
- Learners benefit most when information is vulnerable to forgetting.
- Interference levels critically influence the efficacy of retrieval schedules.
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