The effect of testing on the forgetting of related and unrelated associates.

Abstract

Separate groups of subjects studied lists of word pairs in which the members of the pairs were either unrelated or strong or weak associates. A single study trial was given. In addition, one group received three study presentations on the unrelated list. An immediate cued recall test for half of the pairs was followed by a second test on all pairs either 10 min, 48 hr, or 1 week later. The associated pairs, both strong and weak, were forgotten less rapidly than the nonassociated pairs, but the effect was largely restricted to previously tested items. The results do not appear to be due to differences in the amount of interference present, but point to the importance of retrieval operations in the attenuation of forgetting. RESUME Des groupes differents de participants etudient, en un seul essai, des listes de paires de mots oil les membres des paires sont, soit non relies, soit fortement ou faiblement associes. Un groupe rec,oit en plus trois essais d'etude de la liste avec mots non relies. Un test immediat de rappel avec mot signal pour la moitie des paires est suivi d'un second test avec toutes les paires apres 10 min, 48 hr, ou 1 semaine. Les paires fortement et, faiblement associees sont moins rapidement oubliees que les paires non reliees, mais cet effet est largement reserve aux paires qui ont ete testees au prealable. Les resultats ne paraissent pas dependre de differences dans la quantite d'interference presente, mais soulignent plutot Fimportance des operations de reperage de l'information dans la diminution de 1'oubli.

The spacing effect in 4- to 9-year-old children

“…The reconstruction or effort hypotheses are also consistent with views that retrieval operations strengthen the memory trace (Runquist, 1983(Runquist, , 1986). Runquist reported that the slope of the forgetting curve was reduced more for items receiving an initial test than for those not receiving an initial test.…”

The effects of tests on learning and forgetting

“…Other studies have looked at cued recall tasks, with final tests delayed by days (Raffel, 1934;Runquist, 1986aRunquist, , 1986bRunquist, , 1987 or weeks (Runquist, 1983;Spitzer, 1939). However, these studies did not compare retention of items in a test condition with retention of items in a restudy condition.…”

“…As such, it is possible that any apparent differences in the rate of forgetting reflected differences in the amount of overall exposure time rather than the effects of testing. Furthermore, in some studies (Runquist, 1983(Runquist, , 1986b, final test accuracy in the no-test control condition was assessed as a proportion of all items in that condition, whereas final test accuracy in the test condition was assessed on the basis of the number of items successfully recalled on the intervening test. Thus, the rate of forgetting in the no-test condition was assessed for all items, whereas the rate of forgetting in the test condition was assessed only for the easier and/or initially better-learned items.…”

The influence of retrieval on retention

“…It is possible thatany mnemonic effects of a memory test are simply due to this representation of the target material and not to the memory retrieval itself (as suggested by Skaggs, 1920). Obviously, this criticism applies to those studies that have shown that receiving a memory test is better for later retention than simply having an equivalent amount of free time (Bartlett, 1977;Bartlett & Tulving, 1974;Darley & Murdock, 1971;Madigan & McCabe, 1971;McDaniel, Kowitz, & Dunay, 1989;Modigliani, 1976;Runquist, 1983Runquist, , 1986Young, 1971). Whether there is an active, mnemonic effect of retrieval has important theoretical implications.…”