Studying on borrowed time: How does testing impair new learning?

Abstract

Retrieving studied materials often enhances subsequent learning of new materials (Pastötter & Bäuml, 2014). However, retrieval has also been shown to impair new learning (Finn & Roediger, 2013). Here we attempted to determine when retrieval enhances and when it impairs new learning. We argue that testing impairs new learning when one intermixes testing with new learning, which biases participants to relearn the tested information at the expense of the new information. We refer to this as the borrowed time hypothesis. Consistent with this idea, we reduced or eliminated testimpaired new learning by discouraging time borrowing. Moreover, testing enhanced new learning only when the test trials and new learning trials were presented in separate blocks. These results suggest that test-impaired new learning and test-enhanced new learning are based on different underlying mechanisms, and that they are not simply the flipped side of the same coin. Learning, Memory, and Cognition (2015) in press. This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record STUDYING ON BORROWED TIME 2 AbstractRetrieving studied materials often enhances subsequent learning of new materials

Immediate interviewing increases children's suggestibility in the short term, but not in the long term

“…Of most relevance to the present study, retrieval can enhance new learning by reducing inattention globally (Past€ otter, Schicker, Niedernhuber, & Bauml, 2011;Szpunar, Khan, & Schacter, 2013), such that children who had received an earlier interview were more likely to sustain their attention during the post-event narrative. Further, the initial interview may enhance learning of the post-event information by making encoding more selective (Carpenter & Toftness, 2017;Davis & Chan, 2015). In the context of RES, the children who have received the initial interview may be more likely to detect conflicts between their recollection and the post-event information, thereby enhancing their learning towards the misinformation (Butler & Loftus, 2017;Gordon & Thomas, 2014).…”

Enhancing learning and retrieval of new information: a review of the forward testing effect

“…It has been suggested that, when the tested and new materials are presented together, the tested materials may “forcibly occupy” the encoding time and borrow the limited time available for studying new materials––the borrowed time effect . 51…”

Telling a good story: The effects of memory retrieval and context processing on eyewitness suggestibility

“…A substantial literature has shown that performing retrieval practice can strengthen learning of subsequent material, even if that subsequent material is unrelated to the tested, previously learned material [19–21]. This more general TPL effect has been ascribed to the ability for retrieval to reduce proactive interference from prior learning [22], reduce mind wandering [23], promote a mental context shift [24,25], and optimize one’s encoding strategies [6,26,27]. For present purposes, regardless of the exact mechanisms (i.e., specific or general) by which testing potentiates subsequent learning, the TPL account places a heavy emphasis on the enhanced encoding of misinformation as the key contributor to RES.…”