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Related Experiment Video

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Testing for Metacognitive Responding Using an Odor-based Delayed Match-to-Sample Test in Rats

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Memorial consequences of multiple-choice testing on immediate and delayed tests.

Lisa K Fazio¹, Pooja K Agarwal, Elizabeth J Marsh

¹Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA. lkf@duke.edu

Memory & Cognition

|June 3, 2010

Summary

Prior testing aids later test performance but can also lead to errors. Both positive and negative effects of multiple-choice testing persist over a week, especially when the test is delayed.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Educational Psychology
Memory Research

Background:

Multiple-choice testing influences subsequent test performance.
Prior testing enhances correct recall but may increase susceptibility to incorrect 'lures'.
The long-term impact of these negative testing effects remains under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the durability of both positive and negative effects of multiple-choice testing over a one-week delay.
To determine if delayed testing exacerbates or mitigates these effects.
To assess the role of recollection in both positive and negative testing phenomena.

Main Methods:

Participants completed multiple-choice and cued recall tests at immediate and delayed (one-week) intervals after studying.
Testing involved subsets of studied material.
Analysis focused on comparing performance between immediate and delayed test conditions.

Main Results:

Both positive effects (increased correct answers) and negative effects (increased lure errors) of prior testing were observed after a one-week delay.
The delay reduced the magnitude of both positive and negative testing effects.
These effects were more pronounced when the multiple-choice test itself was delayed.

Conclusions:

The findings suggest that both beneficial and detrimental effects of multiple-choice testing are durable over time.
Recollection is a plausible mechanism underlying both the positive and negative consequences of testing.
The timing of the multiple-choice test significantly influences the persistence of its effects on subsequent learning and memory.