Testing Effect And Memory: A Preliminary Study

Testing enhances memory, which exposits "testing effect" incisively. In other words, testing effect refers to a powerful way of improving one's memory for material. Tests enhance later retention more than additional study of the material, even when they are given without feedback.In the theory section of the dissertation, the concept of testing effect is introduced, the history of research on testing effect is reviewed and the main experimental paradigms and theories are summarized.Given that there are few domestic researches on testing effect, in the experiment section, the testing effect was examined with a direct experimental design firstly. Then by changing some conditions, we continued to explore the mechanism of testing effect and verify the effect as well.In experiment 1, a mixed design is exploited to compare under which condition, to re-study or to test, could render people to retain the material better given both short and long terms interval. Meanwhile, we recorded the subject confidence level of their long term retention to see whether they were aware of the testing effect.In experiment 2, a one-way design is exploited and a study-study&evaluation condition is included, under which subjects have to evaluate the word while studying them for the second time, or rather they have to process them deeply. And our purpose is to compare this process and the process involved in testing.In experiment 3, a mixed design is exploited. Another variable, the material amount is introduced to explore whether there exist some automatic process is under testing.The research got the following findings: 1. Testing enhances the long term memory better then re-study does, however, 2 Subjects could not figure out this effect. 3. The elaborate process might be involved in testing, which more strongly impact the retention the "negative" process under the instruction. 4 The more difficult the study task is, the better the testing effect works.