title: Uncovering the neural mechanisms underlying learning from tests.
abstract: People learn better when re-study opportunities are replaced with tests. While researchers have begun to speculate on why testing is superior to study, few studies have directly examined the neural underpinnings of this effect. In this fMRI study, participants engaged in a study phase to learn arbitrary word pairs, followed by a cued recall test (recall second half of pair when cued with first word of pair), re-study of each pair, and finally another cycle of cued recall tests. Brain activation patterns during the first test (recall) of the studied pairs predicts performance on the second test. Importantly, while subsequent memory analyses of encoding trials also predict later accuracy, the brain regions involved in predicting later memory success are more extensive for activity during retrieval (testing) than during encoding (study). Those additional regions that predict subsequent memory based on their activation at test but not at encoding may be key to understanding the basis of the testing effect.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America; The Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: Xiaonan L
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China; Beijing Key Lab of Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Brain Informatics, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Peipeng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China; Beijing Key Lab of Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Brain Informatics, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Kuncheng
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America; The Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
authors.forename: Lynne M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Reder
mesh_terms: D001519:Behavior; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult