Providing Extrinsic Reward for Test Performance Undermines Long-Term Memory Acquisition

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Testing is known to enhance long-term memory retention compared to restudying.
• Educational settings often use high-stakes testing, leading to extrinsic motivation.
• Extrinsic motivation can negatively impact learning quality and memory consolidation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how extrinsic motivation, specifically monetary reward, affects the benefits of testing on long-term foreign language vocabulary acquisition.
• To determine if the positive effects of testing on memory are preserved under conditions of performance-contingent reward.

Main Methods:

• Participants learned foreign language vocabulary.
• An immediate test was administered, with one-third of words tested and one-third restudied.
• Extrinsic motivation was manipulated by offering monetary rewards for test performance versus no reward.
• Delayed testing occurred after one week to assess long-term retention.

Main Results:

• Immediate testing with reward decreased correct recall and increased errors, suggesting reduced benefit from retrieval.
• Delayed test results showed that reward lowered the long-term memory gains from initial successful retrieval.
• Despite reward effects, testing remained more effective than restudying for long-term memory.

Conclusions:

• Performance-contingent rewards in testing can undermine long-term knowledge acquisition.
• The negative impact of extrinsic motivation on learning quality outweighs the benefits of testing under reward conditions.
• Careful consideration of reward structures in educational testing is necessary to optimize learning outcomes.