Not New, but Nearly Forgotten: the Testing Effect Decreases or even Disappears as the Complexity of Learning Materials Increases

@article{Gog2015NotNB,
  title={Not New, but Nearly Forgotten: the Testing Effect Decreases or even Disappears as the Complexity of Learning Materials Increases},
  author={Tamara van Gog and John Sweller},
  journal={Educational Psychology Review},
  year={2015},
  volume={27},
  pages={247-264}
}
The testing effect is a finding from cognitive psychology with relevance for education. It shows that after an initial study period, taking a practice test improves long-term retention compared to not taking a test and—more interestingly—compared to restudying the learning material. Boundary conditions of the effect that have received attention include the test format, retrieval success on the initial test, the retention interval, or the spacing of tests. Another potential boundary condition… 
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85 Citations

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TLDR
The testing effect persists even when retrieval occurs under distraction, and the encoding effects of retrieval and restudy appear to be similarly susceptible to distraction when learning complex educational information.
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Retrieving information from memory can—under many circumstances—strengthen one’s memory of the retrieved information itself. The strategic use of retrieval to enhance memory and help long-term…
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The degree to which retrieval practice promotes cued versus spontaneous transfer is explored by manipulating whether participants were provided with an explicit hint that the source and target texts were related and results revealed no effect of retrieval practice.
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The testing effect occurs when students, given information to learn and then practice during a test, perform better on a subsequent content post-test than students who restudy the information as a…
Transfer of Test-Enhanced Learning: Meta-Analytic Review and Synthesis
TLDR
The findings of the first comprehensive meta-analytic review into testing yield learning that transfers to different contexts motivate a three-factor framework for transfer of test-enhanced learning and have practical implications for the effective use of practice testing in educational and other training contexts.
The Testing Effect in University Teaching: Using Multiple-Choice Testing to Promote Retention of Highly Retrievable Information
Retrieval practice promotes retention of learned information more than restudying the information. However, benefits of multiple-choice testing over restudying in real-world educational contexts and…
Cognitive Load Theory, Element Interactivity, and the Testing and Reverse Testing Effects
Summary: The testing effect arises when learners who are tested rather than relearning material obtain superior scores on a final test than those who relearn. Based on cognitive load theory, six…
Effects of incorporating retrieval into learning tasks: The complexity of the tasks matters
Group discussions and test-enhanced learning: individual learning outcomes and personality characteristics
TLDR
It is shown that testing trumps discussion groups from a learning perspective, and the discussion groups were also the least beneficial learning context for those scoring low on NFC.
Revisiting cognitive load theory: second thoughts and unaddressed questions
In cognitive load theory (CLT), learning is the development of cognitive schemas in a long-term memory with no known limits and can happen only if our limited working memory can process new…
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References

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TLDR
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TLDR
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TLDR
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TLDR
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