How Retrieval Difficulty And Feedback Timing Affect Retrieval Practice Effect

Retrieval practice enhance later retention more than additional study of the material. This phenomenon is called retrieval practice effect or testing effect. Current studies have already got a preliminary result that recognition test which retrieval difficulty was lower than recall test can also produce retrieval practice effect. Recognition test has been used in lots of exams and it has an important status in education. We must link recognition test to the retrieval practice effect. This will make a great significance to the retention of memory. But the mechanism of how recognition test influences retrieval practice effect is not yet clear now. Based on recognition test, this research was focus on how retrieval difficulty and feedback timing influence retrieval practice effect and how retrieval practice effect change in different conditions. The purpose of experiment 1 was to compare the different effects on retrieval practice effect of recognition test and free recall test whose retrieval difficulties were different. On the basis of experiment 1, experiment 2 analyzed how the different retrieval difficulties of initial recognition rest influence retrieval practice effect. Based on experiment 1 and experiment 2, experiment 3 introduced the feedback and set up two kinds of feedback timing. Experiment 3 tried to discuss whether feedback influence retrieval practice effect and verify if delayed feedback and immediate feedback do different enhancement for memory retention.Through this research, the author drew the conclusions as follows.Firstly, the initial recognition test may bring retrieval practice effect and the final recognition test can detect retrieval practice effect.Secondly, the different retrieval difficulties of different test types had influence on retrieval practice effect. The initial free recall test whose retrieval difficulty was higher did more enhancement for memory retention than the initial recognition test whose retrieval difficulty was lower.Thirdly, the different retrieval difficulties of initial recognition test had influence on retrieval practice effect. But more difficult of initial recognition test didn’t enhance retrieval practice effect. On the contrary, more difficult of initial recognition test might make retrieval practice effect weaken and even disappear. Combining the desirable difficulties theory and the interference theory may explain this result more objectively.Fourthly, feedback enhanced memory retention of learners. It changed the variation trend of retrieval practice effect in different initial recognition test conditions which retrieval difficulties were different. This result may be due to the dual role of feedback. Feedback may be able to suppress interference and change the coding strategy.Fifthly, delayed feedback did more enhancement for memory retention than immediate feedback. When the retrieval difficulty of initial recognition test was high, delayed feedback had did more enhancement for retrieval practice effect than immediate feedback. This result may be due to the dual advantages of delayed feedback that its retrieval difficulty was higher and it amounted to the spaced learning.