Testing and metacognition: retrieval practise effects on metacognitive monitoring in learning from text

Previous research on the testing effect has primarily focussed on the benefits of testing at the cognitive performance level but rather disregarded the potential effects of testing at the metacognitive performance level. In the present study, we examined the potential of retrieval practise during learning to improve the accuracy of confidence judgments in future retrieval. In a learning-from-text experiment with 98 secondary school students, we implemented an initial test as retrieval practise and a final test one week later. Both tests assessed students' correctness of answering and confidence in their answers. The final test comprised items already tested in the initial test (testing condition) and items not tested in the initial test (control condition). In the final test, the proportion of correct answers and the proportion of confident answers were higher in the testing condition compared to the control condition. Moreover, the confidence judgments were more accurate and less biased in the testing condition compared to the control condition. The results are discussed in the context of the functional relations between retrieval practise and metacognitive monitoring.