Rivers Michelle L
Department of Psychology, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX 76109, USA.
Department of Psychological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44240, USA.
J Intell. 2023 Jul 21;11(7):147. doi: 10.3390/jintelligence11070147.
Practice testing is a highly robust learning strategy that promotes long-term retention, especially in comparison to more passive strategies such as restudying-a finding referred to as the testing effect. However, learners do not always appreciate the memorial benefits of practice testing over restudying, which could limit their use of practice testing during self-regulated learning. The current investigation explored the extent to which learners' metacognitive judgments about the testing effect can be improved via test experience, direct instruction, or a combination of both techniques. Prolific participants underwent two learning cycles. In the first cycle, participants were randomly assigned to either (a) experience a testing effect in their own memory performance (i.e., study unrelated word pairs, practice half the pairs through restudying and half through testing with correct-answer feedback, complete a critical test on the pairs, and receive feedback regarding their performance after using each strategy); (b) imagine they had to learn word pairs and read a passage on the purported benefits of practice testing; or (c) undergo both procedures. In the second cycle, all participants learned a novel set of word pairs. Across both learning cycles, participants estimated memory performance for material learned through testing versus restudying. Both test experience and direct instruction-independently and in combination-led to more accurate memory estimates across learning cycles, but no technique was more effective than the other. In summary, people can learn about the memorial benefits of practice testing when they experience a testing effect on their own memory performance and/or when they receive instruction about its benefits.
练习测试是一种非常有效的学习策略，它能促进长期记忆，尤其是与重新学习等更被动的策略相比——这一发现被称为测试效应。然而，学习者并不总是认识到练习测试相对于重新学习在记忆方面的优势，这可能会限制他们在自主学习中使用练习测试。当前的研究探讨了通过测试体验、直接指导或两者结合的方式，学习者对测试效应的元认知判断能在多大程度上得到改善。大量参与者经历了两个学习周期。在第一个周期中，参与者被随机分配到以下三种情况之一：(a) 在自己的记忆表现中体验测试效应（即学习不相关的单词对，通过重新学习练习一半的单词对，通过有正确答案反馈的测试练习另一半，对这些单词对进行关键测试，并在使用每种策略后收到关于他们表现的反馈）；(b) 想象自己必须学习单词对，并阅读一篇关于练习测试所谓好处的文章；或者(c) 同时经历这两个过程。在第二个周期中，所有参与者学习了一组新的单词对。在两个学习周期中，参与者估计了通过测试与重新学习所学材料的记忆表现。测试体验和直接指导——单独以及结合起来——都导致在学习周期中记忆估计更准确，但没有一种方法比另一种更有效。总之，当人们在自己的记忆表现中体验到测试效应和/或收到关于其好处的指导时，他们可以了解练习测试在记忆方面的好处。
