Tests enhance the transfer of learning.

Numerous learning studies have shown that if the period of time devoted to studying information (e.g., casa-house) includes at least 1 test (casa-?), performance on a final test is improved—a finding known as the testing effect. In most of these studies, however, the final test is identical to the initial test. If the final test requires a novel demonstration of learning (i.e., transfer), prior studies suggest that a greater degree of transfer reduces the size of the testing effect. The authors tested this conjecture. In 2 experiments, 4th- or 5th-grade students learned to assign regions or cities to map locations and returned 1 day later for 2 kinds of final tests. One final test required exactly the same task seen during the learning session, and the other final test consisted of novel, more challenging questions. In both experiments, testing effects were found for both kinds of final tests, and the testing effect was no smaller, and actually slightly larger, for the final test requiring transfer. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does incorrect guessing impair fact learning?

Taking a test has been shown to produce enhanced retention of the retrieved information. On tests, however, students often encounter questions the answers for which they are unsure. Should they guess anyway, even if they are likely to answer incorrectly? Or are errors engrained, impairing subsequent learning of the correct answer? We sought to answer this question in 3 experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, subjects read 80 obscure facts (e.g., “Where is Disko Island? Greenland”) and then took a cued recall test. When a subject reported being unable to answer a question, on a randomly chosen half of those questions the computer program insisted upon a guess. Corrective feedback was provided either immediately (Experiment 1) or after a delay (Experiment 2). Forced guessing did not affect subjects' performance on a final test given 1 day later. We extended the investigation to more complex material in Experiment 3. Subjects saw a question (e.g., “Why do ice cubes often pop as they melt in your drink?”) and its answer, but for half of the questions, subjects did not see the answer until they first provided a plausible explanation. On a test administered either on the same day or 1 week later, recall performance was again unaffected by a prior wrong guess. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A testing effect with multimedia learning.

A testing effect occurs when a learner performs better on a retention test after studying the material and taking a practice-retention test than after studying the material twice. In the present study, 282 participants watched a narrated animation about lightning formation and then watched the presentation again (restudy), took a practice-retention test (practice-retention), or took a practice-transfer test (practice-transfer). First, the testing effect was replicated with multimedia material, such that the practice-retention group outperformed the restudy group on a delayed retention test. Second, a testing effect was found for taking a practice-transfer test, such that the practice-transfer group outperformed the restudy group on a delayed transfer test. Third, the results supported a transfer-appropriate processing explanation of the testing effect, in which the practice-retention group outperformed the practice-transfer group on delayed retention but the opposite pattern was obtained on delayed transfer. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When does testing enhance retention? A distribution-based interpretation of retrieval as a memory modifier.

Tests, as learning events, can enhance subsequent recall more than do additional study opportunities, even without feedback. Such advantages of testing tend to appear, however, only at long retention intervals and/or when criterion tests stress recall, rather than recognition, processes. We propose that the interaction of the benefits of testing versus restudying with final-test delay and format reflects not only that successful retrievals are more powerful learning events than are re-presentations but also that the distribution of memory strengths across items is shifted differentially by testing and restudying. The benefits of initial testing over restudying, in this view, should increase as the delay or format of the final test makes that test more difficult. Final-test difficulty, not the similarity of initial-test and final-test conditions, should determine the benefits of testing. In Experiments 1 and 2 we indeed found that initial cued-recall testing enhanced subsequent recall more than did restudying when the final test was a difficult (free-recall) test but not when it was an easier (cued-recall) test that matched the initial test. The results of Experiment 3 supported a new prediction of the distribution framework: namely, that the final cued-recall test that did not show a benefit of testing in Experiment 1 should show such a benefit when that test was made more difficult by introducing retroactive interference. Overall, our results suggest that the differential consequences of initial testing versus restudying reflect, in part, differences in how items distributions are shifted by testing and studying. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multimedia Learning in an Interactive Self-Explaining Environment: What Works in the Design of Agent-Based Microworlds?

Students learned about electric motors by asking questions and receiving answers from an on-screen pedagogical agent named Dr. Phyz who stood next to an on-screen drawing of an electric motor. Students performed better on a problem-solving transfer test when Dr. Phyz's explanations were presented as narration rather than on-screen text (Experiment 1), when students were able to ask questions and receive answers interactively rather than receive the same information as a noninteractive multimedia message (Experiments 2a and 2b), and when students were given a prequestion to guide their self-explanations during learning (Experiment 3). Deleting Dr. Phyz's image from the screen had no significant effect on problem-solving transfer performance (Experiment 4). The results are consistent with a cognitive theory of multimedia learning and yield principles for the design of interactive multimedia learning environments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intentional Control and Implicit Sequence Learning.

Sequence knowledge acquired by repeated exposure to targets in a speeded localization task was studied in 3 experiments that sought to test A. Destrebecqz and A. Cleeremans's (2001, 2003) claim that, under certain circumstances, the expression of such sequence knowledge cannot be brought under intentional control. In Experiment 1 participants were trained on either a deterministic or a probabilistic sequence and then performed a free-generation test under either inclusion or exclusion instructions. Participants were found to be capable of both expressing (inclusion) and avoiding expressing (exclusion) sequence knowledge. These results were confirmed in Experiment 2 with a more exact replication of Destrebecqz and Cleeremans's methodology. In Experiment 3 participants performed a trial-by-trial generation test under both inclusion and exclusion conditions after a much longer period of training. All the findings are consistent with the proposal that information acquired during sequence learning is explicit in nature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Signaling as a cognitive guide in multimedia learning.

In 3 experiments, students received a short science lesson on how airplanes achieve lift and then were asked to write an explanation (retention test) and to write solutions to 5 problems, such as how to design an airplane to achieve lift more rapidly (transfer test). For some students, the lesson contained signals, including a preview summary paragraph outlining the 3 main steps involved in lift, section headings, and pointer words such as because or as a result. The signaling did not add any additional content information about lift but helped clarify the structure of the passage. Students who received signaling generated significantly more solutions on the transfer test than did students who did not receive signaling when the explanation was presented as printed text (Experiment 1), spoken text (Experiment 2), and spoken text with corresponding animation (Experiment 3). Results are consistent with a knowledge construction view of multimedia learning in which learners seek to build mental models of cause-and-effect systems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning in a New Computerized Testing System.

A new computerized testing system, which facilitates the use of short-answer-type testing, has been developed. In this system, the question of a multiple-choice problem is presented first, and the options appear briefly on the request of the test taker. The crux of this manipulation is to force students to solve the problem as if they were solving an open-ended question but to respond in a multiple-choice format. To examine the system's usefulness as a learning aid, 2 experiments were performed. In Experiment 1, 140 6th-grade students were divided into 2 groups: The experimental group took the intervening computerized test in the computerized modified multiple-choice testing (CMMT) format, and the control group in the traditional multiple-choice format. In a paper postrecall test, the mean score was higher for the experimental group than for the control group. In Experiment 2, the result of Experiment 1 was replicated in a within-subject design. Possible mechanisms of the enhanced retention in the CMMT system are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Varying tutorial modality and interface restriction to maximize transfer in a complex simulation environment.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 103(2) of Journal of Educational Psychology (see record 2011-10421-001). The name of the author Laura G. Torres was omitted.] In 2 experiments, 241 undergraduates with low domain knowledge viewed a tutorial on how to use Packet Tracer (PT), a computer-networking training simulation developed by the Cisco Networking Academy. Participants were then tested on retention of tutorial content and transfer using PT. Tutorial modality (text, narration, or narration plus text) was varied betweens subjects in both experiments, and simulation interface restriction (restricted or unrestricted) was varied between subjects only in Experiment 1. When PT's interface was unrestricted, students who received the narration tutorial performed better on the transfer task compared with students who received the text tutorial (statistically significant in Experiment 1 but not in Experiment 2). These findings extend the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (Mayer, 2005) by testing modality effects in new contexts and further specifying conditions of its applicability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Metamemory judgments and the benefits of repeated study: Improving recall predictions through the activation of appropriate knowledge.

Correspondence between judgments of learning (JOLs) and actual recall tends to be poor when the same items are studied and recalled multiple times (e.g., A. Koriat, L. Sheffer, & H. Ma’ayan, 2002). The authors investigated whether making relevant metamemory knowledge more salient would improve the association between actual and predicted recall as a function of repeated exposure to the same study list. In 2 experiments, participants completed 4 study–recall phases involving the same list of items. In addition to having participants make item-by-item JOLs during each study phase, after the 1st study–recall phase participants also generated change-in-recall estimates as to how many more or fewer words they would recall given another exposure to the same study list. This estimation procedure was designed to highlight repeated study as a factor that can contribute to recall performance. Activating metamemory knowledge about the benefits of repeated study for recall in this way allowed participants to accurately express this knowledge in a free-recall context (Experiment 2), but less so when the memory test was cued recall (Experiment 1). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using tests as learning opportunities.

The present study assessed the value of test-taking as a means of increasing, rather than simply monitoring, learning. One hundered and five college students read a short essay about the American Civil War and were then given either an initial test or no test about the text material. The form of the initial test was either fill-in or multiple-choice; and the knowledge examined was either directly stated in the original text (verbatim) or could be logically derived (inferential) from the text. A common final test, containing all of the above item types, was given to all students two days later. Scores on the final test indicated that in general, those students who did the initial test performed better than the control students, which indicates the potential value of tests as learning experiences. Furthermore, the enhancement provided by the initial test varied with the different test techniques: It was greater for fill-in than for multiple-choice forms and greater for inferential than for verbatim knowledge. It is suggested that teachers make use of the learning potential of tests and construct them so as to maximize the kind of learning desired. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Mayrath et al. (2011).

Reports an error in "Varying tutorial modality and interface restriction to maximize transfer in a complex simulation environment" by Michael C. Mayrath, Priya K. Nihalani and Daniel H. Robinson (Journal of Educational Psychology, , , np). The name of the author Laura G. Torres was omitted. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-01107-001.) In 2 experiments, 241 undergraduates with low domain knowledge viewed a tutorial on how to use Packet Tracer (PT), a computer-networking training simulation developed by the Cisco Networking Academy. Participants were then tested on retention of tutorial content and transfer using PT. Tutorial modality (text, narration, or narration plus text) was varied betweens subjects in both experiments, and simulation interface restriction (restricted or unrestricted) was varied between subjects only in Experiment 1. When PT's interface was unrestricted, students who received the narration tutorial performed better on the transfer task compared with students who received the text tutorial (statistically significant in Experiment 1 but not in Experiment 2). These findings extend the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (Mayer, 2005) by testing modality effects in new contexts and further specifying conditions of its applicability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Computer-based learning of neuroanatomy: A longitudinal study of learning, transfer, and retention.

A longitudinal experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of new methods for learning neuroanatomy with computer-based instruction. Using a three-dimensional graphical model of the human brain and sections derived from the model, tools for exploring neuroanatomy were developed to encourage adaptive exploration. This is an instructional method that incorporates graphical exploration in the context of repeated testing and feedback. With this approach, 72 participants learned either sectional anatomy alone or whole anatomy followed by sectional anatomy. Sectional anatomy was explored either with perceptually continuous navigation through the sections or with discrete navigation (as in the use of an anatomical atlas). Learning was measured longitudinally to a high performance criterion. Subsequent tests examined transfer of learning to the interpretation of biomedical images and long-term retention. There were several clear results of this study. On initial exposure to neuroanatomy, whole anatomy was learned more efficiently than sectional anatomy. After whole anatomy was mastered, learners demonstrated high levels of transfer of learning to sectional anatomy and from sectional anatomy to the interpretation of complex biomedical images. Learning whole anatomy prior to learning sectional anatomy led to substantially fewer errors overall than learning sectional anatomy alone. Use of continuous or discrete navigation through sectional anatomy made little difference to measured outcomes. Efficient learning, good long-term retention, and successful transfer to the interpretation of biomedical images indicated that computer-based learning using adaptive exploration can be a valuable tool in instruction of neuroanatomy and similar disciplines. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning science in virtual reality multimedia environments: Role of methods and media.

College students learned about botany through an agent-based multimedia game. In Experiment 1, students received either spoken or identical on-screen text explanations; in addition, the lesson was presented either via a desktop display (D), a head-mounted display (HMD) used while sitting, or an HMD used while walking (W). In Experiment 2, we examined the effects of presenting explanations as narration (N), text (T), or both (NT) within the D and W conditions. Students scored higher on retention, transfer, and program ratings in N conditions than in T conditions. The NT condition produced results in between. Students gave higher ratings of presence when learning with HMDs, but media did not affect performance on measures of retention, transfer, or program ratings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Category Representation for Classification and Feature Inference.

This research's purpose was to contrast the representations resulting from learning of the same categories by either classifying instances or inferring instance features. Prior inference learning research, particularly T. Yamauchi and A. B. Markman (1998), has suggested that feature inference learning fosters prototype representation, whereas classification learning encourages exemplar representation. Experiment 1 supported this hypothesis. Averaged and individual participant data from transfer after inference training were better fit by a prototype than by an exemplar model. However, Experiment 2, with contrasting inference learning conditions, indicated that the prototype model was mimicking a set of label-based bidirectional rules, as determined by the inference learning task demands in Experiment 1. Only the set of rules model accounted for all the inference learning conditions in these experiments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recollections of things schematic: Room schemas revisited.

In 2 experiments, the authors examined the effects of schemas on the subjective experience of remembering. Participants entered a room that was set up to look like a graduate student's office under intentional or incidental learning conditions. They later took a recognition memory test that included making remember-know judgments. In Experiment 1, they were tested during the same session; in Experiment 2 they were tested either during the same session or after a 48-hr delay. Consistent with the authors' predictions, memory for atypical objects was especially likely to be experienced in the remember sense. In addition, false remember judgments rose dramatically after the 48-hr delay, especially for participants in the incidental learning condition. Results are discussed in terms of schema theory, fuzzy-trace theory, and the distinctiveness heuristic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correcting a metacognitive error: Feedback increases retention of low-confidence correct responses.

Previous studies investigating posttest feedback have generally conceptualized feedback as a method for correcting erroneous responses, giving virtually no consideration to how feedback might promote learning of correct responses. Here, the authors show that when correct responses are made with low confidence, feedback serves to correct this initial metacognitive error, enhancing retention of low-confidence correct responses. In 2 experiments, subjects took an initial multiple-choice test on general knowledge facts and made a confidence judgment after each response. Feedback was provided for half of the questions, and retention was assessed by a final cued-recall test. Taking the initial test improved retention relative to not testing, and feedback further enhanced performance. Consistent with prior research, feedback improved retention by allowing subjects to correct initially erroneous responses. Of more importance, feedback also doubled the retention of correct low-confidence responses, relative to providing no feedback. The function of feedback is to correct both memory errors and metacognitive errors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prior knowledge and correlational structure in unsupervised learning.

Prior knowledge has been shown to facilitate both supervised and unsupervised category learning, but questions remain about how this facilitation occurs. This article describes two experiments that investigate the effects of prior knowledge on unsupervised learning, using the exemplar-memory task of Clapper and Bower (2002). Experiment 1 demonstrates that prior knowledge facilitates learning in this task, as expected, and that this facilitation extends to both knowledge-relevant and knowledge-irrelevant features of the new categories. Experiment 2 shows that knowledge facilitates learning not only by increasing the probability that people will discover separate categories, but also by making the features of different categories seem less interchangeable, thereby reducing interference and confusion among them. Taken together, these experiments demonstrate that prior knowledge has multiple effects on unsupervised learning and suggests that the exemplar-memory task may provide a useful procedure for disentangling and investigating these effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accurate monitoring leads to effective control and greater learning of patient education materials.

Effective management of chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes) can depend on the extent to which patients can learn and remember disease-relevant information. In two experiments, we explored a technique motivated by theories of self-regulated learning for improving people's learning of information relevant to managing a chronic disease. Materials were passages from patient education booklets on diabetes from NIDDK. Session 1 included an initial study trial, Session 2 included self-regulated restudy, and Session 3 included a final memory test. The key manipulation concerned the kind of support provided for self-regulated learning during Session 2. In Experiment 1, participants either were prompted to self-test and then evaluate their learning before selecting passages to restudy, were shown the prompt questions but did not overtly self-test or evaluate learning prior to selecting passages, or were not shown any prompts and were simply given the menu for selecting passages to restudy. Participants who self-tested and evaluated learning during Session 2 had a small but significant advantage over the other groups on the final test. Secondary analyses provided evidence that the performance advantage may have been modest because of inaccurate monitoring. Experiment 2 included a group who also self-tested but who evaluated their learning using idea-unit judgments (i.e., by checking their responses against a list of key ideas from the correct response). Participants who self-tested and made idea-unit judgments exhibited a sizable advantage on final test performance. Secondary analyses indicated that the performance advantage was attributable in part to more accurate monitoring and more effective self-regulated learning. An important practical implication is that learning of patient education materials can be enhanced by including appropriate support for learners' self-regulatory processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expanding retrieval practice promotes short-term retention, but equally spaced retrieval enhances long-term retention.

Expanding retrieval practice (T. K. Landauer & R. A. Bjork, 1978) is regarded as a superior technique for promoting long-term retention relative to equally spaced retrieval practice. In Experiments 1 and 2, the authors found that expanding retrieval practice of vocabulary word pairs produced short-term benefits 10 min after learning, conceptually replicating Landauer and Bjork's results. However, equally spaced retrieval produced superior retention 2 days later. This pattern occurred both with and without feedback after test trials. In Experiment 3, the 1st test occurred immediately or after a brief delay, and repeated tests were expanding or equally spaced. Delaying the first test improved long-term retention, regardless of how the repeated tests were spaced. The important factor for promoting long-term retention is delaying initial retrieval to make it more difficult, as is done in equally spaced retrieval but not in expanding retrieval. Expanding the interval between repeated tests had little effect on long-term retention in 3 experiments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)