Metamemory monitoring and control following retrieval practice for text

Test-taking is assumed to help learners diagnose what they do and do not know, and by so doing improve the effectiveness of their subsequent study. Previous work has examined metamemory monitoring (e.g., predictions of future performance) and control (e.g., restudy decisions) following testing or retrieval practice with relatively simple materials (e.g., word pairs). There is reason to believe, however, that such monitoring and control decisions might be more difficult with text materials, even after retrieval practice, owing perhaps to difficulty in accurately assessing one's performance on the retrieval-practice test. In two experiments, participants read texts about world regions, then engaged in retrieval practice or rereading of the information in those texts, made estimates about future performance, and then received an opportunity to restudy the texts before taking a final recall test, with self-paced restudy enabling an examination of control processes. Memory predictions were more accurate in the retrieval-practice than in the rereading condition, and learners in both conditions allocated restudy time on the basis of their predictions. Additionally, restudy provided a greater benefit following retrieval practice than following rereading. The present study has implications for how students can use retrieval practice with text to foster subsequent learning.