Unsuccessful retrieval attempts enhance subsequent learning.
@article{Kornell2009UnsuccessfulRA, title={Unsuccessful retrieval attempts enhance subsequent learning.}, author={Nate Kornell and Matthew Jensen Hays and Robert A. Bjork}, journal={Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition}, year={2009}, volume={35 4}, pages={ 989-98 } }
Taking tests enhances learning. But what happens when one cannot answer a test question-does an unsuccessful retrieval attempt impede future learning or enhance it? The authors examined this question using materials that ensured that retrieval attempts would be unsuccessful. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were asked fictional general-knowledge questions (e.g., "What peace treaty ended the Calumet War?"). In Experiments 3-6, participants were shown a cue word (e.g., whale) and were asked…
374 Citations
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The results support the idea that a search set of candidates related to the retrieval cue is activated during retrieval and that this retrieval-specific activation can enhance subsequent encoding of those candidates.
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A burgeoning area of research has begun to examine how retrieval practice can influence future learning that occurs after a test. In general, the extant literature has demonstrated a forward testing…
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Investigation of the processes that individuals use to answer multiple-choice questions and how those processes relate to later memory found that participants sometimes spontaneously recall information pertaining to incorrect alternatives, and these spontaneous retrievals are associated with retention of those alternatives as correct answers to related questions later.
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When and why a failed test potentiates the effectiveness of subsequent study.
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It is found that failed tests followed by immediate feedback produced greater retention than did a presentation-only condition and that generating an incorrect response to a cue both activates the semantic network associated with the cue and suppresses the correct response.
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