Production benefits learning: the production effect endures and improves memory for text

The production effect is the superior retention of material read aloud relative to material read silently during an encoding episode. Thus far it has been explored using isolated words tested almost immediately. The goal of this study was to assess the efficacy of production as a study strategy, addressing: (a) whether the production benefit endures beyond a short session, (b) whether production can boost memory for more complex material, and (c) whether production transfers to educationally relevant tests. In Experiment 1 a 1-week retention interval was included, and a production effect was observed. In Experiment 2 a production effect was observed for both word pairs and sentence stimuli. In Experiment 3 educationally relevant essays were read and tested with a fill-in-the-blanks test: Memory was superior for questions that probed information that had been read aloud relative to information that had been read silently. We conclude that the production benefit is enduring and generalises to text and different test formats, indicating that production constitutes a worthwhile study strategy.