Transfer of Test-Enhanced Learning

Memory for paired-associate words is facilitated by interim testing relative to restudy. According to the mediator effectiveness hypothesis, the benefit of retrieval practice is a consequence of the activation of a mediator word linking the cue and target. Evidence for the activation of cue-related mediators stems from the finding that mediators are more effective at prompting recall of target words than are words not associated with the original cue, a pattern that is larger following testing than restudy. The benefit of testing for the unstudied cues at the final test is referred to as transfer of test-enhanced learning. One goal of the current study was to examine whether the activation of mediators leads to the recall of targets indirectly via the original cues in a process known as backward chaining. We indexed backward chaining with the probability of incorrectly recalling a trial-specific original cue in place of a target. The second goal was to explore whether testing would yield a transfer effect for cues associated with target words. In four experiments, following an initial study of weakly related word pairs (e.g., Mother-CHILD), participants either restudied the pairs or attempted to recall the target given the original cue (e.g., Mother). On a final cued-recall test, participants were presented with unstudied cues that were related to either the original cue (semantic mediators, e.g., Father) or the target (target-related cues, e.g., Baby). The type of new cue presented on the final test was varied either between subjects (Experiment 1) or mixed within a list (Experiments 2, 3, and 4). Mixing mediators and target-related cues reduced the transfer of test-enhanced learning and increased the likelihood of recalling the original cues when shown a mediator. These results challenge the assumptions of the mediator effectiveness hypothesis.