Roediger and Karpicke retrieval practice 2006
Students who practiced by recalling a passage remembered more after days than students who spent the same effort rereading it, though rereading did better after only minutes.
Main paper: Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x
The question
Does taking a memory test help later retention more than studying again?
Design: experiment
The researchers set the conditions and compare outcomes between or within groups. Each profile says whether participants were randomly assigned.
Conditions compared how students studied the same material and when they were tested. This profile does not state how students were assigned or give counts.
Restudy
- Read the passage
- Read it again
Result reportedBetter at 5 minutes
Retrieval practice
- Read the passage
- Recall it without looking
Result reportedBetter at 2 days and 1 week
Original diagram drawn for this site from the descriptions in the sources. It is a simplified summary, not a figure from the paper.
Procedure
Students studied prose passages. Some then took one or three immediate free-recall tests without feedback. Others restudied the passage the same number of times. A final test followed after 5 minutes, 2 days or 1 week.
The comparison was between ways of spending practice time on the same material, with the delay before the final test as a second variable.
Findings
On the final test after 5 minutes, repeated studying produced better recall than repeated testing. After 2 days and 1 week the pattern reversed: students who had practiced retrieval remembered more.
The abstract describes this as showing that taking a memory test improves later retention, not only measures it.
Interpretation
The authors argued that testing does more than measure memory: retrieving information strengthens it, a result called the testing effect.
Limits on what it shows
- Prose passages and free recall in a lab are not the same as coursework.
- The benefit appeared at longer delays. For a final test in a few minutes, rereading did better in this study.
- A single report cannot show how much retrieval practice should be used in a particular course.
Ethics
The tasks were reading and recall, with little risk. In a real class, assigning some students a weaker study method would need planning so that no one is disadvantaged.
Replication and reassessment
The reversal across test delays is the key qualification. A method that improves immediate fluency can produce weaker later recall. The inspected abstract supports this comparison; it does not establish the best practice schedule for every learner, subject or assessment.
Think it through. An original practice question written for this site.
You have a quiz tomorrow and an exam in three weeks. What does the pattern in this study suggest about how to split your study time, and what does it not tell you?
Show a way to reason about it
It suggests recall practice helps retention at longer delays, so it matters for the exam, while rereading did well on the short delay. It does not tell you the best ratio for you, because the study compared limited conditions with particular passages.
Nothing you think or select here is recorded.
Textbook connection
OpenStax Psychology 2e, 8.4 Ways to Enhance Memory
Related context on study practices. The section does not name the testing effect.
Sources and access scope
Each label says how much of the source was opened while preparing this profile. An unopened source is listed so the claim can be checked, not because it was read.
- Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.xConsulted sourceOriginal researchAbstract inspected
Abstract confirms the restudy and free-recall comparison without feedback, final tests at 5 minutes, 2 days and 1 week, and the reversal across delays. The full article text has not been inspected.
- Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology 2e. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/8-4-ways-to-enhance-memoryTextbook contextOpened, page summary only
Textbook context. The section discusses study practices and does not name the testing effect.