Criterion Learning And Associative Asymmetry:An Investigation To Mediators

Learning is usually thought to occur during episodes of studying, while the retrieval of information on testing simply serves to assess what was learned. A wealth of research has established that retrieval practice promotes subsequent memory, particularly when the retrieval attempt is successful. Furthermore, the number of successful retrievals during practice(i.e., criterion level) dramatically influences final test performance. For example, Vaughn and Rawson(2011) had participants learn Lithuanian–English word pairs via test–restudy practice until they were correctly recalled. Despite retrieval practice always occurring in the forward direction during practice(A – ?), performance increased as a function of criterion level both on final forward(A – ?) and backward(? – B) cued recall tests. Importantly, the performance gain across criterion levels appeared asymmetric, as the gains were much larger in the forward versus backward cued recall direction. However, one potential explanation for the observed asymmetry in criterion level effects is that the materials strongly favored forward cued recall, as retrieving Lithuanian versus English is inherently more difficult for native Chinese speakers. The present experiments utilized Chinese–Chinese pairs to more appropriately investigate whether the effects of criterion level on associative memory are symmetric or asymmetric.In Experiment 1, 128 college students participate in the experiment. Experiment 1 was divided into two sessions with a seven-day interval separating them. The retrieval criterion(1, 3 or 5 correct recalls) was manipulated within participants, and tests type(cue recall or recognition) was manipulated between participants. In the learning phase, 48 Chinese noun word-pairs were randomly presented on separate trials. In the retrieval-practice phase, The 48 words were then presented in the center of the screen. The participants were required to input the corresponding Chinese word within 8 seconds. At this point, there were two possible situations. If the participants entered an incorrect word or did not respond, the screen re-presented all the words, and the participants were allowed to relearn them for 4 seconds. When all the words reached the preset retrieval criterion or 90 minutes passed, Session 1 ended. After seven days, the final testing began. There were two types of tests: cued recall and recognition. The participants were randomly assigned to one of the tests. In Experiment 2, 96 college students studied 48 word-pairs in the initial learning conditions and then recall one by one until reached the criterion. Experiment 2 was conducted to investigate whether participants spontaneously generate mediators during practice, which is a necessary condition for a mediator-based explanation to potentially account for these patterns of associative asymmetry.Experiment 1 indicated a significant main effect for retrieval criterion. Results showed that gains were greater in forward versus backward cued recall. Importantly, gains favored forward versus backward cued recall regardless of whether cue memory and target memory gains were equivalent or whether gains were greater for cue versus target memory. Therefore, the differential gain in forward versus backward cued recall performance cannot be attributed to differential gain in target versus cue memory, providing evidence that the effects of criterion level on associative memory are asymmetric. Experiment 2 replicated the results of Experiment 1, extends the findings of Experiment 1. Results reflected mediator use may be able to account for the observed pattern of associative asymmetry.Across experiments, the current study indicated that criterion level effects on associative memory are asymmetric. Advantages in forward versus backward cued recall could not be attributed to differences in cue memory or target memory, indicating differences in forward and backward associative memory. Furthermore, these results provide suggestive evidence that mediators may be able to explain the previously observed pattern of associative asymmetry. Results of the analyses of internal mechanisms support the episodic context account. The episodic context account explains the finding that retrieval practice is more likely to be beneficial for more difficult retrieval tasks. In addition, combining the context-change hypothesis and transfer appropriate processing theory suggests the reason of mediator in associative memory. Practice testing is one of the most well-established strategies for improving student learning.