Updating and pre-existing semantic associations: testing can enhance or impair new learning

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Updating learned information is crucial for knowledge acquisition.
• Previous research on whether testing or restudying aids updating has yielded conflicting results.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether retrieval practice (testing) or restudying older information better facilitates the updating of learned material.
• To examine how semantic associations influence the effects of testing on updating.

Main Methods:

• A paired associates updating paradigm was employed.
• Participants studied an initial cue-response pair (A-B), then reviewed the older response via restudying (A-B) or testing (A-?).
• Subsequently, a newer response was learned, updating the pair to a trio (A-B-D).

Main Results:

• The impact of testing on new learning (enhancement, impairment, or no difference) was contingent on the pre-existing semantic associations between the cue, older response, and newer response.
• Eight experiments demonstrated all possible outcomes depending on these associative patterns.

Conclusions:

• The effectiveness of testing versus restudying for updating knowledge is not absolute but depends on the specific associative structure of the information.
• Updating theories should incorporate the influence of the newer information and post-review metacognitive processes to explain these varied outcomes.