In single item learning, interim testing of studied lists roughly doubles recall of new items compared with distractor or restudy control groups¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causalr?·q2
Currency · newest study 2018 · checked against its sources 2026-10-27 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? In Szpunar et al.'s single item learning study, the Interim Test group recalled about twice as many List 5 words as the Interim Distractor and Interim Restudy groups, and made roughly ten times fewer intrusion errors. → Chunliang Yang 2018
Evidence¶
Chunliang Yang 2018¶
Chunliang Yang, Rosalind Potts and David R. Shanks. (2018). Enhancing learning and retrieval of new information: a review of the forward testing effect. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-018-0024-y
q2 · i? · causal · r?
The review reports Szpunar et al.'s three-group single item experiment in which an Interim Test, Interim Restudy, and Interim Distractor group studied five word lists; the quote shows the doubled recall finding, and the review also reports about ten times fewer proactive-interference intrusion errors in the Interim Test group.
"the Interim Test group correctly recalled about twice as many List 5 words as the Interim Distractor and Interim Restudy groups in the List 5 interim test, which did not differ in their levels of recall"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- The forward testing effect generalizes to individuals with traumatic brain injury but is absent for younger children's single item learning — related
- In inductive learning, interim testing of studied category exemplars enhances learning and retention of new categories — related
- In paired-associate learning, interim testing about doubles recall of new face-name and foreign-translation pairs relative to a distractor control — related
- In complex materials, interim testing improves learning of new lecture-video segments and passage sections, including comprehension and integration — related
- Overt retrieval practice enhances interim recall of new List-5 material compared to restudy, and does not differ from JOLs with word stems — related
- In self-paced learning, interim testing maintains study-time allocation across successive lists, preventing the decline seen without tests — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
forward-testing-single-items-doubled-recall |
title |
In single item learning, interim testing of studied lists roughly doubles recall of new items compared with distractor or restudy control groups |
description |
In single item learning, interim testing of studied lists roughly doubles recall of new items compared with distractor or restudy control groups |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2018 |
source_checked |
2026-10-27 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-27 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — chunliang-yang-2018 |
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