title: The role of retrieval mode and retrieval orientation in retrieval practice: insights from comparing recognition memory testing formats and restudying.
abstract: The effectiveness of retrieval practice for aiding long-term memory, referred to as the testing effect, has been widely demonstrated. However, the specific neurocognitive mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain unclear. In the present study, we sought to explore the role of pre-retrieval processes at initial testing on later recognition performance by using event-related potentials (ERPs). Subjects studied two lists of words (Chinese characters) and then performed a recognition task or a source memory task, or restudied the word lists. At the end of the experiment, subjects received a final recognition test based on the remember-know paradigm. Behaviorally, initial testing (active retrieval) enhanced memory retention relative to restudying (passive retrieval). The retrieval mode at initial testing was indexed by more positive-going ERPs for unstudied items in the active-retrieval tasks than in passive retrieval from 300 to 900 ms. Follow-up analyses showed that the magnitude of the early ERP retrieval mode effect (300-500 ms) was predictive of the behavioral testing effect later on. In addition, the ERPs for correctly rejected new items during initial testing differed between the two active-retrieval tasks from 500 to 900 ms, and this ERP retrieval orientation effect predicted differential behavioral testing gains between the two active-retrieval conditions. Our findings confirm that initial testing promotes later retrieval relative to restudying, and they further suggest that adopting pre-retrieval processing in the forms of retrieval mode and retrieval orientation might contribute to these memory enhancements.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, People's Republic of China.|Department of Psychology, Institute of Mind and Brain, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29201, USA.
authors.forename: Chuanji
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Experimental Neuropsychology Unit, Saarland University, Campus, D-66123, Saarbrϋcken, Germany.|Department of Forensic Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Clinics Basel, CH-4012, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Timm
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rosburg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.
authors.forename: Mingzhu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bingbing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, Department of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, People's Republic of China. guocy@cnu.edu.cn.|Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Imaging Technology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, People's Republic of China. guocy@cnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chunyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011932:Reading; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Event-related potential (ERP); Recognition; Retrieval mode; Retrieval orientation; Retrieval practice; Testing effect