module 1: assigned reading Flashcards
what is expanding retrieval schedule?
testing of retention shortly after learning to make sure encoding is accurate, then waiting longer to retrieve again, then waiting still longer for a third retrieval and so on.
what is feedback?
providing information after a question. General (right or wrong) feedback is not very helpful if the correct answer is not provided. Correct answer feedback usually produces robust gains on a final criterion measure
what is retrieval practice?
act of calling information to mind rather than rereading it or hearing it. The idea is to produce ‘an effort from within’ to induce better retention.
what is negative suggestion effect?
taking a test that provides subtly wrong answers (e.g. true or false, multiple choice) can lead students to select a wrong answer, believe it is right, and thus learn an error from taking the test.
what is test enhanced learning?
general approach that promotes retrieval practice via testing as a means to improve knowledge
what is the testing effect?
taking a test usually enhances later performance on the material relative to rereading it or to having no re-exposure at all.
what is transfer?
ability to generalize learning from one context to another or to use learned information in a new way (e.g. to solve a problem).
active vs passive retention
active is better because recollecting within requires greater effort than to passively look at a book or notes again
what was the result of the study and test (ST) trials to determine what was learned?
the learning outcome was negatively accelerated, most learning occurs on early ST trials, and learning decreases with additional trials
- test is considered neutral event
what is the purpose of test within the classrooms?
measure what has been learned from studying, gauging the knowledge that has been acquired without affecting it in any way.
what was the result of the study in which two groups of students retrieved information several times during learning and two other groups were treated similarly but only practiced retrieval once?
groups that practiced retrieval (without feedback) during learning recalled substantially more of the pairs than the other two groups.
repeated study led to virtually no improvement a week later
Retrieval practice provides much greater long-term retention than does repeated study
what are the best conditions for retrieval?
sooner retrieval is attempted after a study trial or a correct retrieval, the more likely it is to be successful.
true or false: Short delays between retrievals might foster errorless retrieval.
true, however, it might be that retrieval of information after a short delay is too much like rote rehearsal, which often produces little or no mnemonic benefit
how many retrievals are needed to maximize long-term retention?
takes time, so if one or two is enough, then practice can be terminated
what was the result when students learned swahili-english word pairs via repeated practice at retrieving the English word when presented with the associated Swahili word when given different time retrievals (1 vs 6 minutes)?
Regardless of the timing of the final test, retrieval practice with 6-min intervening intervals led to better retention relative to retrieval practice with 1-min intervening intervals
five to seven retrievals seem to be optimal in this paradigm.
- pattern of performance depended on the time between successive retrievals during initial practice
(After a week, only retrieval practice with longer intervening intervals had any effect on performance – practice that occurred every minute produced floor-level performance, no matter how many times the item was successfully retrieved.0
single test can boost retention and these benefits persist over ____ delays. Still, repeated retrievals usually benefit ____ retention relative to a single retrieval
longer
later
what do researchers who perform behavior analysis believe about retrieval practice?
retrieval attempts should be arranged so that they do not produce errors
- if an error is produced than it will be learned, making learning of the correct responses more difficult
what is a strategy for retrieval practice that precludes making errors and still permits the type of difficult retrievals that produce better long-term retention?
expanding schedule of retrieval
how does expanding schedule retrieval work?
first retrieval attempt occurs shortly after initial learning and subsequent retrieval attempts are staggered so that each successive retrieval occurs after an increasingly long interval.
what is a simple example of expanding schedule of retrieval and what is the idea of it?
learning a person’s name
idea is to gradually shape long-term retention of the information just as learning can be shaped by reinforcement of successive approximations of the desired behavior
Landauer and Bjork predicted that expanding retrieval schedules would produce better performance than which two schedules?
equal interval and massed
what is equal interval schedules?
intervals between retrieval attempts remain constant
what is massed schedules?
repeated retrieval with no intervening interval
Findings from their experiments showed a benefit of an expanding schedule relative to an equal-interval schedule on a final test given after a relatively short retention interval of how much time?
30 minutes
true or false: expanding and massed schedules produced better final retention than did a equal-interval schedule of practice, even though the equal-interval tests provided nearly errorless retrieval.
false: expanding and equal-interval schedules produced better final retention than did a massed schedule of practice, even though the massed tests provided nearly errorless retrieval.
true or false: research comparing different schedules of practice provides additional evidence that repeated retrieval of information immediately after study, even though errorless, produces poor retention
true
When the final test is given shortly after the learning phase, which type of schedule (expanding or equal-interval) seems to be best?
expanding
when long-term retention is measured (i.e. a delay of a day or longer), which schedule (expanding or equal-interval) seems to be best?
equal-interval
what may be the reason for the flip flop in performance from immediate to delayed tests be due to?
timing of initial test
the first test is given almost immediately in an expanding schedule, whereas it is given after a longer delay in an equal-interval schedule. Thus, the equal-interval schedule requires greater retrieval effort on the first test, which should produce better long-term retention.
generally, what are the best retrieval schedules?
those that involve wide spacing of retrieval attempts, even if some errors are made
evidence shows that ________ retrieval provides better retention after short delays, but ________retrieval produces better retention after long delays.
expanding
equal interval
true or false: expanding schedules may show a benefit in future research with expansion that unfolds over days and weeks rather than over seconds
true
after retrieval attempt, what increases the mnemonic benefits of testing and why?
feedback since the correct answer increases learning because it enables test-takers to correct errors and maintain correct responses
what is the critical mechanism in learning from tests?
successful retrieval
what type of tests is feedback especially critical for and why?
recognition tests (multiple choice, true/false, etc.) because test-takers are exposed to incorrect information
what is the danger of multiple choice test?
might cause them to learn incorrect information and believe that it is true
true or false: when students select a lure in a multiple-choice test, they often reproduce the correct information on a later test
false: when students select a lure in a multiple-choice test, they often reproduce that incorrect information in a later test
what is the solution to negative effects from multiple choice tests and why?
provide students with feedback.
If feedback is provided after a multiple-choice test, the negative effects are completely nullified
is immediate or delayed feedback more powerful?
delayed
In one study, students read passages and then either took or did not take a multiple-choice test [16]. For students who took the test, one group received correct answer feedback immediately after making a response (immediate feedback) and the other group received the correct answers for all questions after the entire test (delayed feedback). One week after the initial learning session, students took a final test in which they had to produce a response to the question that had formed the stem of the multiple-choice item (i.e. they had to produce the answer rather than selecting one from among several alternatives). The final test consisted of the same questions from the initial multiple-choice test and comparable questions that had not been tested. What were the results? What was the ultimate conclusion?
Taking an initial test (even without feedback) tripled final recall
relative to only studying the material. When correct answer feedback was given immediately after each question
in the initial test, performance increased another 10%.
However, feedback given after the entire test boosted final
performance even more.
delayed feedback led to better retention than immediate feedback
what does the benefits of delayed feedback might suggest?
spacing effect
define spacing effect
phenomenon whereby two presentations of material given with spacing between them generally leads to better retention than massed (back-to-back) presentations
what is a criticism of the testing effect?
retrieval practice merely teaches people to produce a fixed response when given a particular retrieval cue, so the procedure simply amounts to drill and practice of a particular response.
What was the findings of Butler’s experiment when he investigated which testing produces better transfer than repeated studying. restudy passages vs restudy sentences vs repeated testing
- virtually no difference between the two repeated study conditions even though studying the isolated sentences ostensibly allowed for more time to learn the critical concepts than studying the entire passage.
- restudying provides limited benefits for retention
- repeated testing led to significantly better transfer than either repeated studying of the passages or repeated studying of the isolated sentences
In Butler’s study, what was the key difference between the restudy isolated sentences condition and the repeated condition?
students attempted to retrieve the information in the latter condition before getting it to restudy.
repeated testing produced better ______ relative to repeated studying on new inferential questions about different knowledge domains (e.g. applying knowledge about echolocation in bats to sonar in submarines)
transfer
how does the act of retrieval affect memory?
retrieval of information from memory leads to elaboration of the memory trace and/or the creation of additional retrieval routes, which makes it more likely that the information will be successfully retrieved again in the future
the more effort involved in retrieving the memory, the more extensive is the ____________
reprocessing
true or false: retrieval practice that occurs under conditions in which information can be easily accessed (e.g. from short-term or working memory) leads to little or no benefit for long-term retention
true
transfer-appropriate processing, holds that ___________________ is enhanced to the extent that the cognitive processes during learning match those required during retrieval
memory performance
what is the relationship between storage strength and retrieval strength?
positive effects of retrieval on storage strength are inversely related to retrieval strength; the greater the retrieval strength, the less is the effect of retrieval on storage strength
what is reconsolidation?
the idea that retrieval of a memory places it into a labile state in which the trace can be enhanced or disrupted
how can retrieval practice strengthen the connection between neurons that form memory trace for the retrieved information?
activating the hippocampal VTA feedback loop
under what conditions is practicing retrieval beneficial?
when it requires effortful processing (e.g. production rather than recognition tests), it occurs multiple times with relatively long intervals between retrieval attempts, and it is followed by feedback after each attempt.
how does frequent quizzing helps students?
forces students to stay current with the course by studying more regularly
true or false: retrieval practice can increase retention of related, but not non-tested material
false: retrieval practice can increase retention of related, but non-tested material as well
true or false: retrieval practice should occur only through quizzing or testing in the classroom.
false: Retrieval practice can be implemented in many different ways, including self-testing (e.g. using flash cards, chapter-ending questions, or other methods).
true or false: retrieval practice produces superior long-term retention relative to studying for an equivalent amount of time
true
true or false: a single test is better than repeated testing
false
true or false: testing under conditions that make retrieval easy often has great effects
false
how can mnemonic benefits of retrieval practice expand beyond the learning of a specific response?
it produces knowledge that can be transferred to different contexts
