The Forward Effect of Testing: Behavioral Evidence for the Reset-of-Encoding Hypothesis Using Serial Position Analysis

The forward effect of testing refers to the finding that retrieval practice of previously studied information increases retention of subsequently studied other information. It has recently been hypothesized that the forward effect (partly) reflects the result of a reset-of-encoding (ROE) process. The proposal is that encoding efficacy decreases with an increase in study material, but testing of previously studied information resets the encoding process and makes the encoding of the subsequently studied information as effective as the encoding of the previously studied information. The goal of the present study was to verify the ROE hypothesis on an item level basis. An experiment is reported that examined the effects of testing in comparison to restudy on items’ serial position curves. Participants studied three lists of items in each condition. In the testing condition, participants were tested immediately on non-target lists 1 and 2, whereas in the restudy condition, they restudied lists 1 and 2. In both conditions, participants were tested immediately on target list 3. Influences of condition and items’ serial learning position on list 3 recall were analyzed. The results showed the forward effect of testing and furthermore that this effect varies with items’ serial list position. Early target list items at list primacy positions showed a larger enhancement effect than middle and late target list items at non-primacy positions. The results are consistent with the ROE hypothesis on an item level basis. The generalizability of the ROE hypothesis across different experimental tasks, like the list-method directed-forgetting task, is discussed

The oscillatory fingerprints of self-prioritization : Novel markers in spectral EEG for self-relevant processing

Funding Information: The research reported in this article was supported by a Grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SCHA 2253/1–1). Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Oscillatory Correlates of Selective Restudy

Prior behavioral work has shown that selective restudy of some studied items leaves recall of the other studied items unaffected when lag between study and restudy is short, but improves recall of the other items when lag is prolonged. The beneficial effect has been attributed to context retrieval, assuming that selective restudy reactivates the context at study and thus provides a retrieval cue for the other items (Bäuml, 2019). Here the results of two experiments are reported, in each of which subjects studied a list of items and then, after a short 2-min or a prolonged 10-min lag, restudied some of the list items. Participants' electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded during both the study and restudy phases. In Experiment 2, but not in Experiment 1, subjects engaged in a mental context reinstatement task immediately before the restudy phase started, trying to mentally reinstate the study context. Results of Experiment 1 revealed a theta/alpha power increase from study to restudy after short lag and an alpha/beta power decrease after long lag. Engagement in the mental context reinstatement task in Experiment 2 eliminated the decrease in alpha/beta power. The results are consistent with the view that the observed alpha/beta decrease reflects context retrieval, which became obsolete when there was preceding mental context reinstatement

Retrieval Practice Fails to Insulate Episodic Memories against Interference after Stroke

Recent work in cognitive psychology showed that retrieval practice of previously studied information can insulate this information against retroactive interference from subsequently studied other information in healthy individuals. The present study examined whether this beneficial effect of interference reduction is also present in patients with stroke. Twenty-two patients with stroke, 4.6 months post injury on average, and 22 healthy controls participated in the experiment. In each of two experimental sessions, participants first studied a list of items (list 1) and then underwent a practice phase in which the list 1 items were either restudied or retrieval practiced. Participants then either studied a second list of items (list 2) or fulfilled an unrelated distractor task. Recall of the two lists' items was assessed in a final criterion test. Results showed that, in healthy controls, additional study of list 2 items impaired final recall of list 1 items in the restudy condition but not in the retrieval practice condition. In contrast, in patients with stroke, list 2 learning impaired final list 1 recall in both conditions. The results indicate that retrieval practice insulated the tested information against retroactive interference in healthy controls, but failed to do so in patients with stroke. Possible implications of the findings for the understanding of long-term memory impairment after stroke are discussed

Updating processes in episodic memory

The efficient use of episodic memory does not only require to remember new information, it also requires to forget old information. That such memory updating is part of our memory system is suggested by behavioral studies examining both contextual and intentional memory updating. The electrophysiological correlates of episodic memory updating, however, still remain elusive. To investigate episodic memory updating, the context-change paradigm and the directed-forgetting paradigm can be used. In the directed-forgetting paradigm, subjects are cued to intentionally forget a previously learned item list and to learn a new list of items instead. In the context-change paradigm, subjects are cued to change their internal context between the learning of two lists. Both forms of cuing typically lead to forgetting of the first list and to memory enhancement of the second. The standard explanation of these effects is that forgetting and enhancement are mediated by a single mechanism: context differentiation in contextual memory updating and retrieval inhibition in intentional memory updating. In four experiments the necessity of new learning after cue presentation and the electrophysiological (EEG) correlates of forgetting and enhancement as they occur in these paradigms were explored. In both paradigms, forgetting of the first list was only observed when a second list was learned after cuing. Analysis of oscillatory EEG activity revealed that the forgetting in contextual memory updating was accompanied by an increase of theta phase coupling between scalp electrodes which is suggested to reflect the establishment of a new mental List-2 context. On the other hand, the forgetting in intentional memory updating was accompanied by a decrease of upper alpha phase coupling which is suggested to reflect an inhibitory disintegration of the to-be-forgotten information. Thus, phase coupling mediated the forgetting both in contextual and intentional memory updating, but in different frequency bands. In both paradigms, memory enhancement was accompanied by an increase in upper alpha band power which is suggested to reflect a change of encoding strategy after cuing. In sum, the present experiments revealed separate neural origins of forgetting and memory enhancement and thus point to a two-mechanism view of episodic memory updating

Abrufeffekte im Gedächtnis: Ein Überblick zur aktuellen Grundlagenforschung.

Der Frage, wie Erinnern das Gedächtnis formt, wurde in der Kognitiven Psychologie in letzter Zeit große Aufmerksamkeit gewidmet. Testungseffekte, die in einer durch Gedächtnisabruf in der Folge verbesserten Zugänglichkeit von Gedächtniseinträgen bestehen, wurden in diesem Zusammenhang insbesondere auch hinsichtlich ihres pädagogischen Potentials diskutiert. Neben erleichterter Zugänglichkeit kann Gedächtnisabruf allerdings auch Vergessen nicht abgerufener Information verursachen. Der aktuelle Stand der Grundlagenforschung zu Abrufeffekten wird in diesem Überblicksartikel dargestellt und eine integrative Betrachtung unterschiedlicher Arten von Abrufeffekten unter Berücksichtigung wichtiger Moderatorvariablen versucht

Retrieval Practice Enhances New Learning: the Forward Effect of Testing

Inthelastcoupleofyears,therehasbeenadramaticincreaseinlaboratoryresearchexaminingthebenefitsofrecalltestingonlong-termlearningandretention.Thisworkwaslargelyonthebackwardeffectoftesting,whichshowsthatretrievalpracticeonpreviouslystudiedinformation,comparedtorestudyofthesamematerial,renderstheinformationmorelikelytoberememberedinthefuture.Goingbeyondthisprominentwork,morerecentlaboratoryresearchprovidedevidencethatthereisalsoaforwardeffectoftesting,whichshowsthatrecalltestingofpreviouslystudiedinformationcanenhancelearningofsubsequentlypresentednewinformation.Here,weprovideareviewofresearchonthisforwardeffectoftesting.Thereviewshowsthattheeffectisawellreplicatedphenomenoninlaboratorystudiesthathasbeenobservedforbothveridicalinformationandmisinformation.Inparticular,thereviewdemonstratesthattheeffectmaybeappliedtoeducationalandclinicalsettings,enhancinglearninginstudentsandreducingmemorydeficitsinclinicalpopulations.Thereviewdiscussescurrenttheoreticalexplanationsoftheforwardeffectoftestingandprovidessuggestionsforfutureresearchdirections

The crucial role of postcue encoding in directed forgetting and context-dependent forgetting

People can intentionally forget previously studied material if, after study, a forget cue is provided and new material is learned. It has recently been suggested that such list-method directed forgetting arises because the forget cue induces a change in internal context and causes context-dependent forgetting of the studied material (L. Sahakyan & C. M. Kelley, 2002). The authors compared directed forgetting and context-dependent forgetting by examining whether, like a forget cue, a change in internal context needs subsequent learning of new material to be effective. Participants studied an item list and, after study, received a remember cue or a forget cue or their internal context was changed through an imagination task. In each condition, half the participants learned a second list, and the other half fulfilled an unrelated distractor task. Both the forget cue and the change in internal context induced forgetting of the first list only when learning of the second list was interpolated. These results suggest that postcue encoding of new material is crucial for both directed forgetting and (some forms of) context-dependent forgetting

Testing enhances subsequent learning in older adults.

Interference susceptibility has been suggested to be a major factor for episodic memory impairment in healthy older adults. Previous work has shown that retrieval practice can reduce proactive interference and thus enhance learning and memory in younger adults, a finding referred to as the forward effect of testing in the literature. This study examined the late developmental trajectory of the forward effect in middle-aged and older adults (40 to 79 years of age). Participants studied three lists of items in anticipation of a final cumulative recall test. In the testing condition, participants were tested immediately on Lists I and 2 after initial study, whereas in the restudy condition, they restudied Lists 1 and 2. In both conditions, participants were tested immediately on List 3. The results of the immediate List-3 recall test showed a reliable forward effect of testing, with interim testing of Lists 1 and 2 enhancing List-3 recall and reducing the number of prior-list intrusions. Notably, this effect of testing was found independent of participants' age. These results suggest that retrieval practice can reduce proactive interference in middle-aged and older adults. Together with recent findings on the presence of the backward effect of testing in older adults-that is, improved recall of studied material after retrieval versus restudy, these findings indicate that retrieval practice can be a very powerful tool to delimit memory impairment in older age

Distinct slow and fast cortical theta dynamics in episodic memory retrieval

Brain oscillations in the theta frequency band (3-8 Hz) have been shown to be critically involved in human episodic memory retrieval. In prior work, both positive and negative relationships between cortical theta power and retrieval success have been reported. This study examined the hypothesis that slow and fast cortical theta oscillations at the edges of the traditional theta frequency band are differentially related to retrieval success. Scalp EEG was recorded in healthy human participants as they performed a cued-recall episodic memory task. Slow (~3 Hz) and fast (~7 Hz) theta oscillations at retrieval were examined as a function of whether an item was recalled or not and as a function of the items’ output position at test. Recall success typically declines with output position, due to increases in interference level. The results showed that slow theta power was positively related but fast theta power was negatively related to retrieval success. Concurrent positive and negative episodic memory effects for slow and fast theta oscillations were dissociable in time and space, showing different time courses and different spatial locations on the scalp. Moreover, fast theta power increased from early to late output positions, whereas slow theta power was unaffected by items’ output position. Together with prior work, the results suggest that slow and fast theta oscillations have distinct functional roles in episodic memory retrieval, with slow theta oscillations being related to processes of recollection and conscious awareness, and fast theta oscillations being linked to processes of interference and interference resolution