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.
Fazio
Lisa K
LK
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA. lkf@duke.edu
Agarwal
Pooja K
PK
Marsh
Elizabeth J
EJ
Roediger
Henry L
HL
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