Having more multiple-choice alternatives benefits later retention when initial retrieval success is high but hurts learning when it is low¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2017 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? The chapter reports, citing Butler et al. (2006), that more alternatives benefit subsequent retention when initial retrieval success is high. → Karpicke 2017 q2 i? The chapter reports that when initial retrieval success is low, more alternatives hurt learning because selected incorrect responses are remembered. → Karpicke 2017 (2)

Evidence¶

Karpicke 2017¶

Karpicke, J. D. (2017). Retrieval-Based Learning: A Decade of Progress. Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference, 2nd edition, Volume 2. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.21055-9

q2 · i? · review · r3

The chapter reports, citing Butler et al. (2006), that "When the level of initial retrieval success is high, having more alternatives bene fits subsequent retention", presumably by making retrieval more effortful.

"When the level of initial retrieval success is high, having more alternatives bene fits subsequent retention."

Karpicke 2017 (2)¶

Karpicke, J. D. (2017). Retrieval-Based Learning: A Decade of Progress. Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference, 2nd edition, Volume 2. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.21055-9

q2 · i? · review · r3

The chapter reports the other half of this pattern: "when initial retrieval success is low, having more alternatives hurts learning", as students select and later remember incorrect responses.

"However, when initial retrieval success is low, having more alternatives hurts learning. In this case, students are more likely to select incorrect responses on the initial test, and those incorrect responses are remembered on future tests."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Long-Term Memory — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Initial multiple-choice tests with plausible, competitive alternatives outperformed initial short-answer tests on final questions that were related to but not directly tested initially — related
• Initial short-answer tests outperform initial multiple-choice tests mainly when feedback follows them; without feedback, the higher initial success of multiple-choice tests can favor multiple-choice — related
• Initial retrieval conditions that provide less cue support, such as free recall rather than recognition or fewer letter cues, tend to produce better retention despite lower initial success — reports the opposite
• Evidence on whether initial short-answer questions produce more learning than initial multiple-choice questions is mixed, with recent studies finding little or no difference — related
• Studies disagree on whether low or high working memory learners benefit more from retrieval practice, and several find no relationship
• Successful retrieval practice of more difficult items (short answer, applied) yields greater future predicted success than successful retrieval of easier items (multiple choice, factual) — related
• Competitive true-false questions can produce benefits similar to competitive multiple-choice questions for previously asked and related questions — related
• Providing feedback after initial multiple-choice tests cut lure intrusions on final short-answer tests roughly in half, with immediate and delayed feedback equally effective — related
• Taking initial multiple-choice tests without feedback can lead students to later produce the incorrect lure answers they selected, even when an overall retrieval practice benefit occurs — related
• Answering MCQs benefits learning when learners retrieve knowledge from memory to evaluate plausible alternatives, but such retrieval may not occur with easy-to-guess answers. — related