Memorial consequences of multiple-choice testing on immediate and delayed tests.
Multiple-choice testing has both positive and negative consequences for performance on later tests. Prior testing increases the number of questions answered correctly on a later test but also increases the likelihood that questions will be answered with lures from the previous multiple-choice test (Roediger & Marsh, 2005). Prior research has shown that the positive effects of testing persist over a delay, but no one has examined the durability of the negative effects of testing. To address this, subjects took multiple-choice and cued recall tests (on subsets of questions) both immediately and a week after studying. Although delay reduced both the positive and negative testing effects, both still occurred after 1 week, especially if the multiple-choice test had also been delayed. These results are consistent with the argument that recollection underlies both the positive and negative testing effects.
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA. lkf@duke.edu
Lisa K
LK
Fazio
Pooja K
PK
Agarwal
Elizabeth J
EJ
Marsh
Henry L
HL
Roediger
D001288:Attention; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003463:Cues; D003657:Decision Making; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011932:Reading; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology