The benefits of retrieval practice do not depend on an exact match between initial retrieval practice conditions and the final test format¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (3 entries) · review r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2017 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? The chapter concludes from studies of cue direction, question rewording, maps, and free recall to short answer that benefits do not depend on exact format matching. → Karpicke 2017 q2 i? The chapter reports, citing Carpenter et al. (2006), that practicing word pair retrieval enhanced final performance whether cued forward or backward. → Karpicke 2017 (2) q2 i? The chapter reports, citing Rohrer et al. (2010), that matching city names to map locations enhanced a transfer test on locations of cities along routes. → Karpicke 2017 (3)

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's own summary of transfer-across-formats research: "the bene fits of retrieval practice do not depend on an exact match between initial retrieval practice conditions" and final format.

"In sum, the bene fits of retrieval practice do not depend on an exact match between initial retrieval practice conditions and the final criterial test format."

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 Carpenter et al. (2006), with word pairs: "practicing retrieval enhanced performance on a final test regardless of whether the cue word was given to recall the target" or the reverse.

"They found that practicing retrieval enhanced performance on a final test regardless of whether the cue word was given to recall the target ( train–?) or the target was given to recall the cue ( plane–?)."

Karpicke 2017 (3)¶

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 Rohrer et al. (2010), where "this retrieval practice activity enhanced performance on a transfer test" requiring spatial locations of cities along connecting routes.

"The students practiced retrieval by matching the city names to locations on the maps, and this retrieval practice activity enhanced performance on a transfer test where students recalled spatial locations of cities that lay along routes connecting other cities."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The classroom testing effect transfers to mismatched test formats, but consistent quiz–exam formats yield a significantly larger effect (g = 0.531 vs. g = 0.399). — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
• Retrieval Practice Improves Transfer
• 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 — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Retrieval practice effects on mediator-cued final tests have been positive, but Coppens et al. (2016) concluded the true effect may be only about 0.10 to 0.20 — related
• Retrieval practice instructions improved final recall of translations in Experiment 1 — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• 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 — related
• Retrieval practice enhances performance on final inference and transfer questions relative to restudying, although a single-word fill-in-the-blank task did not — related
• 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
• Subtle indirect cueing feedback tends to have higher impacts on learning outcomes than other forms of feedback, per research the review cites — related
• Practice retrieval performance did not differ significantly between the three retrieval strategy conditions — related
• The text generation effect is largest for free-recall tests, smaller for cued recall, and near zero for other assessment tasks — related
• Whether prompting students to construct explanations during retrieval adds benefit beyond initial free recall is mixed across studies — related
• Competitive true-false questions can produce benefits similar to competitive multiple-choice questions for previously asked and related questions — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Practice test format moderates the testing effect: mixed-format (g = 0.80) and multiple-choice (g = 0.70) practice tests produced larger effects than short-answer tests (g = 0.48) — reports the opposite
• Testing effects are stronger when practice and final test formats are identical (g = 0.63) than dissimilar (g = 0.53), supporting transfer-appropriate processing — reports the opposite
• Retrieval-based learning research emphasizes both direct and indirect effects of retrieval on learning — related
• No intervention benefits on source references in students' written conclusions (far transfer question) — related