Long-term retention under conditions of intentional learning and the keyword mnemonic

Abstract

This study was designed to assess long-term retention following either keyword learning or rote rehearsal under conditions of intentional learning. A 2 condition (keyword vs. rote rehearsal) x time (immediate vs. delay) completely randomized design was used, with 24 Tagalog language nouns serving as the learning material. All subjects had uniformly high levels of retention on the immediate test of cued recall. However, on the delayed test of cued recall (2 days later), keyword learners had forgotten almost twice the number of items as had subjects who had rehearsed the same material by rote. Long -term forgetting was also greater for the keyword condition than for rote rehearsal when subjects were assessed by a test of associative matching. This pattern of results replicates earlier research that has revealed a detrimental long-term effect ofthe keyword mnemonic under conditions of incidental learning.Considerable evidence exists for the beneficial effect of the keyword mnemonic on acquisition and immediate recall. Although originally developed by Richard Atkinson (1975) as a study strategy for second language vocabulary learning, its usefulness has been documented across a wide range oflearning tasks. The acquisition of science concepts, art history, the names of state capitals, and factual information presented in a prose format are but a few examples of its broad applicability (Carney, Levin, & Morrison, 1988;Levin, Shriberg, Miller, McCormick, & Levin, 1980;McCormick, & Levin, 1987;Pressley, Levin , & Delaney, 1982; Rosenbeck, Levin, & Levin, 1989).Whereas the immediate advantage of using keywords is well documented, the possible long-term benefit of this mnemonic technique has not been established. In fact , some evidence suggests that the keyword mnemonic may be associated with a relatively steep decline in retention if recall is assessed after a delay (McDaniel, Pressley, & Dunay, 1987;Wang, Thomas, & Ouellette, 1992) . conducted four experiments to compare long-term retention after keyword learning with that after rote rehearsal . We were somewhat surprised to find that after 1 week, greater forgetting occurred under use of the keyword mnemonic than under rote rehearsal.In the aforementioned experiments, condition (keyword vs. rote rehearsal) and time (immediate vs. delay) were factorially manipulated as between-subjects variables . Despite variations in the study materials (French or Tagalog language nouns), and levels ofinunediate recall (equated or not equated across learning conditions), keyword learners typically forgot more than twice the number of vocabulary items than did subjects who rote rehearsed the same material. In each of these experiments, a highly significant condition X time interaction was obtained because keyword learners were less likely to retain as much after a delay as rote learners. Moreover, the poor long-term performance of the keyword learners was not due to their forgetting of the keywords . For instance, after a l-week delay , keyword recall was 90% , as opposed to a meage...

Forgetting Numbers in Old Age: Strategy and Learning Speed Matter

“…In line with this reasoning, there is evidence that cues that are relational and semantic in nature, for example personal associations between new materials and existing knowledge, are more durable over time compared to distinctive cues that derive from particular episodic attributes given to the learned materials, for example mental images [45][46][47][48] . The observed long-term advantage of self-generated strategy training over mnemonic training is also consistent with research demonstrating that instructions in strategies that maximize immediate learning, such as classic mnemonic techniques, are not necessarily the most effi cient for long-term retention [22][23][24][25] . In addition, the current results are consistent with research demonstrating the effectiveness of personal cues for long-term recall [49][50][51][52] .…”

In defence of keyword experiments: a reply to Gruneberg's commentary

“…However, we are not yet convinced that the long-term bene®ts reported are due to the eect of keyword learning per se. Our own research suggests that eective keyword-based learning will occur under conditions of extended practice and with an intentional learning set (Wang and Thomas, 1995;Wang et al, 1993). It seems likely that in Gruneberg's studies, both of these conditions were operative.…”

Eficacia de la mnemotecnia de la palabra clave en el recuerdo a largo plazo de palabras de un segundo idioma

“…Wang et al (1992) observaron que cuando el número de exposiciones a las palabras aumentaba, la ejecución del grupo de repetición era mejor que el de la MPC. También se encontró que la MPC tiene una ratio de olvido superior al método de repetición (Wang et al, 1992;Wang et al, 1993).…”

“…Existen trabajos donde la recogida de datos a largo plazo se realizó al día siguiente (Campos et al, 2010), a los dos días (Wang et al 1993;Wang & Thomas, 1995;Thomas & Wang, 1996;Carney, & Levin, 1998), tras una semana (Wang et al, 1992;Wieczynski & Blick 1996;Carney & Levin, 1998;Zhang & Schumm, 2000;Campos et al, 2002;2003;2004) y hasta un mes después (Dolean, 2014). También hay trabajos donde se han realizado dos medidas a largo plazo (vanHell & Mahn, 1997;Carney & Levin, 1998;Dolean, 2014).…”