title: Test-enhanced learning and its effect on comprehension and diagnostic accuracy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In health professions education, tests have traditionally been used to assess the skills and knowledge of learners. More recently, research in psychology and education has shown that tests can also be used to enhance student memory; a phenomenon called the 'testing effect'. Much of the research in this domain has focused on enhancing rote memory of simple facts, and not on the deeper comprehension and application of complex theoretical knowledge necessary to diagnose and manage patients. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of testing on students' comprehension of the basic science mechanisms and diagnostic accuracy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Undergraduate dental and dental hygiene students (n = 112) were taught the radiographic features and pathophysiology underlying four intrabony abnormalities. Participants were divided into two groups: the test-enhanced (TE) condition and the study (ST) condition. Following the learning phase, the TE condition group completed an interventional test that tested the basic science mechanisms and the ST condition group was given additional study passages without being tested. Participants in both groups then completed a diagnostic test and a memory test immediately after the learning phase and 1 week later.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A main effect of testing condition was found. The participants in the TE condition group outperformed those in the ST condition group on immediate and delayed testing. Unlike the diagnostic test, the memory test showed no difference between the groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The inclusion of the basic science test appears to have improved the students' understanding of the underlying disease mechanisms learned and also improved their performance on a test of diagnostic accuracy.
authors: Discipline of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; The Wilson Centre, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Department of Diagnostic Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, Kuwait University, Kuwait.
authors: Mariam
authors: M
authors: Baghdady
authors: Heather
authors: H
authors: Carnahan
authors: Ernest W N
authors: EW
authors: Lam
authors: Nicole N
authors: NN
authors: Woods
mesh_terms: D032882:Comprehension; D003756:Dental Hygienists / Q000193:education; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004497:Education, Dental / Q000379:methods*; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010483:Periapical Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011859:Radiography; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012586:Science / Q000193:education; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology*; D058013:Test Taking Skills / Q000523:psychology