Retrieval-induced forgetting in educational contexts: Monitoring, expertise, text integration, and test format

Retrieval practice leads to the impaired recall of related but unpractised items, an effect termed retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). Two experiments showed that RIF occurred with “real world” educational material, and isolated several boundary conditions for the phenomenon. Experiment 1 showed that integration of material available to experts but not to novices in a domain of knowledge, protected against RIF, which disappeared after a 24 hours. Experiment 2 examined the impact on RIF of the degree of coherence or integration of the text material itself and the type of test format administered. Text coherence did not influence RIF, which occurred for the short answer and essay tests, but not for the multiple choice test. In both experiments, those participants who demonstrated RIF were able to monitor accurately the likelihood of recall impairment, suggesting that RIF may not be an unconscious process. Results are discussed in relation to exam preparation strategies.

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