Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2081, USA.
Mem Cognit. 2010 Jan;38(1):116-24. doi: 10.3758/MC.38.1.116.
Expanding retrieval practice refers to the idea that gradually increasing the spacing interval between repeated tests ought to promote optimal long-term retention. Belief in the superiority of this technique is widespread, but empirical support is scarce. In addition, virtually all research on expanding retrieval has examined the learning of word pairs in paired-associate tasks. We report two experiments in which we examined the learning of text materials with expanding and equally spaced retrieval practice schedules. Subjects studied brief texts and recalled them in an initial learning phase. We manipulated the spacing of the repeated recall tests and examined final recall 1 week later. Overall we found that (1) repeated testing enhanced retention more than did taking a single test, (2) testing with feedback (restudying the passages) produced better retention than testing without feedback, but most importantly (3) there were no differences between expanding and equally spaced schedules of retrieval practice. Repeated retrieval enhanced long-term retention, but how the repeated tests were spaced did not matter.
扩展检索练习是指逐渐增加重复测试之间的间隔时间，以促进最佳的长期记忆保留。人们普遍相信这种技术的优越性，但实证支持却很少。此外，几乎所有关于扩展检索的研究都考察了在配对联想任务中学习单词对的情况。我们报告了两项实验，其中我们考察了使用扩展和等间隔检索练习时间表学习文本材料的情况。在初始学习阶段，被试学习了简短的文本并对其进行回忆。我们操纵了重复回忆测试的间隔，并在一周后检查最终的回忆。总的来说，我们发现：（1）重复测试比单次测试更能增强记忆；（2）有反馈（重新学习文章）的测试比没有反馈的测试产生更好的记忆，但最重要的是（3）扩展和等间隔的检索练习之间没有差异。重复检索可以增强长期记忆，但重复测试的间隔如何并不重要。
