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This thesis investigated the testing effect, which is the tendency of testing to enhance learning and memory retention. Specifically, the thesis examines the extent to which test-induced retention benefits extend to the questions as well as the answers; are these benefits symmetrical? The results in the laboratory experiment (Experiment 1) demonstrated that the symmetry in retention benefits is highly dependent on the accuracy in the initial test. For the items students answered correctly in the initial test, the retention benefit was found to be symmetrical across the questions and answers supporting the retrieval hypothesis of the testing effect. However, for initially incorrect items, the retention performance was substantially better for the questions than the answers suggesting an asymmetrical effect from testing, a result that is also consistent with the retrieval hypothesis. These results were replicated using educationally-relevant materials with a delay up to five and a half months in two hybrid studies combining actual classroom experiences with controlled assessments in the laboratory (Experiment 2A & 2B). A series of follow-up studies were conducted to examine the difference in retention performance of the questions and the answers for the initial incorrect items. Particularly, the experiments focused on investigating various factors that might contribute to or eliminate the difference in retention performance, including prior study (Experiment 3), verification feedback (Experiment 4A & 4B) and answer feedback (Experiment 5). The thesis also touched upon various issues related to the temporal dimension of the testing effect. The previous notion that testing slows down forgetting rate is not supported by the data. Instead, testing seems to provide a short-term insulation against immediate forgetting, but then memory for the tested materials decays in the same way as the non-tested materials.

Memory models typically assume that recall is a two-stage process with learning affecting both processes to the same degree. This equal learning assumption is difficult to reconcile with studies of the 'testing effect', which reveal different forgetting rates following learning from test practice versus learning from restudy. Here we present a new memory model, termed Primary and Convergent Retrieval (PCR) that assumes successful recall leads to a selective enhancement for the second stage of recall (Convergent Retrieval). We applied this model to existing testing effect data. In two new experiments, we confirmed novel predictions of the PCR model for transfer between retrieval cues and for recall latencies. This is the first formally specified model of the testing effect and it has broad implications for the nature of learning and retrieval.

For teachers and students to be able to make informed decisions about how to best improve learning, it is important to compare learning strategies that are known to be effective. Both multimedia learning, based on the notion that individuals learn better from words and pictures presented together than from words alone, and retrieval practice, based on the idea that retrieving knowledge from the memory is an active process that has a beneficial impact on learning, have been found robust learning strategies in earlier research. However, the two strategies remain to be investigated in combination. The combination of the two seemingly robust strategies was investigated in Study I and results showed a modest effect of retrieval practice in terms of decreased forgetting and a strong effect of multimedia learning. Retrieval practice did not improve memory performance beyond the beneficial effect of using a visual illustration. Study II investigated the beneficial effects of the use of visual illustrations in more detail in terms of preferred learning style (visual, verbal or mixed), a notion that has reached wide popular ac- ceptance within the educational field. Support was not found for the learning styles hypothesis. Rather, results showed that the positive effects of learning with the aid of a visual illustration holds independently of preferred learning style, which renders strong support for multimedia learning in terms of its generalizability. Most interestingly, students with mixed or visual learning styles performed generally better on the learning test than students with a verbal learning style, which may imply that it is worthwhile to help students develop a preference for visual or multimodal aspects of information pro- cessing in order to further improve learning. The findings presented in this thesis provide new knowledge regarding the combination of learning strate- gies and contribute with important insights into the relation between learning style and the use of visual illustrations in psychology teaching. The findings also pose challenges for students and teachers, as well as people designing learning materials, concerning how to approach the use of visual illustrations and retrieval practice in teaching and learning.

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Objectives. To determine if student self-testing improves performance during a doctor of pharmacy course. Methods. Students were given access to online quizzes with a large pool of randomly selected questions specific to upcoming examination content. Quizzes were electronically scored immediately upon completion and students were provided corrective feedback. Results. Examination scores following implementation of the practice quizzes were significantly higher in all but the last testing period. The upper fiftieth percentile of students scored higher on both the practice quizzes and subsequent examinations in all but the fourth testing period. Conclusions. Providing pharmacy students with self-testing opportunities could increase their retention of course material and provide feedback to both students and educators regarding learning, as well as provide students with a measure of their metacognition.

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A primary goal of education is the acquisition of durable knowledge which challenges the use of efficient pedagogical methods of how to best facilitate learning. Research in cognitive psychology has demonstrated that repeated testing during the learning phase improves performance on later retention tests compared to restudy of material. This empirical phenomenon is called the testing effect. The testing effect has shown to be robust across different kinds of material and when compared to different pedagogical methods. Despite the extensive number of published papers on the testing effect, the majority of the studies have been conducted in the laboratory. More specific, few studies have examined the testing effect in authentic settings when using course material during the progress of a course. Further, few studies have investigated the beneficial effects with test-enhanced learning by the use of neuroimaging methods (e.g. fMRI). The aim with the thesis was to investigate the effects of test-enhanced learning in an authentic educational context and how this is related to individual differences in working memory capacity (Study I and II) as well as changes in brain activity involved in successful repeated testing and long term retention (Study III). In study I, we examined whether repeated testing with feedback benefitted learning compared to rereading of introductory psychology key concepts in a sample of undergraduate students. The results revealed that repeated testing with feedback was superior compared to rereading both immediate after practice and at longer delays. The effect of repeated testing was beneficial for students irrespectively of WMC. In Study II, we investigated test-enhanced learning in relation to the encoding variability hypothesis for the learning of mathematics in a sample of fifth-grade children. Learning was examined in relation to both practiced and transfer tasks. No differences were found for the practiced tasks. Regarding the transfer tasks, the results gave support for the encoding variability hypothesis, but only at the immediate test. In contrast, when we followed up the durability of learning across time, the results showed that taking the same questions over and over again during the intervention resulted in better performance across time compared to variable encoding. Individual differences in WMC predicted performance on the transfer tasks, but only at the immediate test, regardless of group. Together, the results from Study I and Study II clearly indicate that testenhanced learning is effective in authentic settings, across age-groups and also produces transfer. Integrate current findings from cognitive science, in terms of test-enhanced learning, by the use of authentic materials and assessments relevant for educational goals can be rather easily done with vi computer based tasks. The observed influence of individual differences in WMC between the studies warrant further study of its specific contribution to be able to optimize the learning procedure. In Study III, we tested the complementary hypothesis regarding the mechanisms behind memory retrieval. Recurrent retrieval may be efficient because it induces representational consistency or, alternatively, because it induces representational variability - the altering or adding of underlying representations as a function of successful repeated retrieval. A cluster in right superior parietal cortex was identified as important for items successfully repeatedly retrieved Day 1, and also correctly remembered Day 7, compared to those successfully repeatedly retrieved Day 1 but forgotten Day 7. Representational similarity analysis in this region gave support for the theoretical explanations that emphasis semantic elaboration.

Resultat från TIMS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, 2019) visar att svenska elever presterar under genomsnittet i matematik både i årskurs fyra och i årskurs åtta. År 2020 sammanfattade Skolinspektionen tre områden som är avgörande för bättre kvalitet i skolan och som sammanfaller väl med bland annat testbaserat lärande. Skolinspektionens (2020) sammanfattning och testbaserat lärandets gemensamma nämnare är vikten av att ha tydliga lärandemål, skapa en varierad och anpassad undervisning som ger elever stimulans och utmaningar efter varje elevs förutsättningar, med stöd av läraren, samt betydelsen av elevers delaktighet och möjlighet till formativa återkoppling.  Mot den bakgrunden samt att det finns grundlig forskning kring testbaserat lärande som högeffektiv inlärningsstrategi analyserades sex lärares erfarenheter av implementeringsarbetet kring testbaserat lärande. Utöver det gjordes en kvantitativ studie inom testbaserat lärande i ämnet matematik. Studien utgår från kognitionsteori och har lärarperspektiv samt en teoretisk referensram i litteratur och artiklar från främst de senaste årtiondena. Efter implementeringen av testbaserat lärande intervjuades sex lärare på en F-6 skola vars undervisning (minst 75 procent av undervisningstillfällena) hade innehållit minst en testbaserad uppgift per lektion under sex veckor. Uppsatsens kvalitativa studie visade lärarnas reaktioner efter implementeringsperioden. De uttryckte en trygghet och motivation i implementeringsarbetet samt hur deras lektionsdesign hade förändrats genom återhämtningsaktiviteterna. De sex lärarna förmedlade också en överraskande positiv upplevelse kring den återkoppling som de testbaserade aktiviteterna gav eleven och läraren, med större möjlighet för läraren att justera sin undervisning för högre måluppfyllelse.Den kvantitativa studien som gjordes i ämnet matematik (aritmetik) i årskurs fyra och fem under en sex-veckors period var en mix av testbaserat lärande (retrieval practice) och delvis inflätat lärande (interleaved practice). Studien med de förutsättningar som gavs visade att testbaserade aktiviteter adderat till delvis inflätat lärande inte höjde resultaten i interventionsgruppen. Vid analysen framkom olika anledningar till resultatet som till exempel utformning och frekvens av de testbaserade aktiviteterna i planeringsschemat, lärarna och elevernas oerfarenhet inom området samt val av interventionsgrupp. / Results from TIMS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, 2019) show that Swedish students perform below average in mathematics for, both in grade four and in grade eight. In 2020, the Skolinsepktionen summarized three areas that are crucial for better quality in schools and that coincide well with, among other things, retrieval practice. Skolverket's (2022) summary and retrieval practice common denominator is the importance of having clear learning goals, creating varied and adapted teaching that gives students stimulation and challenges according to each student's conditions, with the support of the teacher, as well as the importance of student participation and the opportunity for formative feedback. With that background and the fact that there is thorough research on retrieval practice as a highly effective learning method, six teachers' experiences of the implementation work of retrieval practice are analyzed in this essay. In addition to that, a quantitative study is carried out in test-based learning in the subject of mathematics. The study is based on cognitive theory and has a teacher's perspective as well as a theoretical frame of reference in literature and articles from mainly recent decades.  After the implementation of retrieval practice, six teachers were interviewed at an F-6 school whose instruction (at least 75% of the time) had included at least one retrieval practice activity per lesson for six weeks. The essay's qualitative study shows the teachers' positive reactions after the implementation period. They also express a sense of security and motivation in the implementation work and how their lesson design has changed through the recovery activities. The six teachers also convey a surprisingly positive experience regarding the feedback that the retrieval practice activities provide to the student and the teacher, with greater opportunity for the teacher to adjust their teaching for higher goal achievement. The quantitative study that is done in the subject of mathematics (arithmetic) in grades four and five during a six-week period is a mix of retrieval practice and interleaved practice. The study with the conditions provided showed that retrieval practice activities added to interleaved practice did not increase the results in the intervention group. During the analysis, various reasons emerged for the result, such as the design of the retrieval practices activities, frequency of the retrieval practices activities in the planning schedule, the teachers' and students' inexperience in the field, and the choice of intervention group.

<p>  </p> <p>Extensive evidence supports the effectiveness of retrieval practice as a powerful method for promoting long-term learning. For students to obtain the maximum benefit from retrieval practice they need to incorporate the strategy into their study routines as a learning tool that is used early and often. Unfortunately, many students avoid retrieval practice and instead rely primarily on less effective learning strategies such as rereading, and existing interventions that encourage students to practice retrieval are rare. Given this troubling gap in the literature, this dissertation sought to create and experimentally evaluate a novel intervention that attempted to improve students’ evaluations of and increase their willingness to use retrieval practice. </p> <p>In two experiments, the Pilot Study and Experiment 1, students studied a list of Lithuanian-English translations and completed two retrieval practice activities. The control retrieval practice activity prompted students to retrieve only difficult translations, whereas the high note retrieval practice activity prompted students to retrieve the same number of difficult translations but ended with additional trials that were normatively less difficult. Students preferred the high note retrieval practice activity over the shorter retrieval practice activity that had a more difficult ending, which suggests that existing retrieval practice activities can be improved by crafting endings that afford more opportunities for successful retrieval. Experiment 2 demonstrated that ending a retrieval practice activity on a high note could encourage students to choose retrieval practice over restudying for a subsequent learning activity. Experiment 3 replicated the findings from Experiment 2 and extended the results to a new type of material that is common in educational settings—general knowledge questions (i.e., fact learning). Finally, Experiment 4 investigated whether the preference for the high note retrieval practice activity found in the previous experiments was driven by the placement of the moderately difficult items at the end of the activity.</p> <p>Overall, this dissertation provides yet another demonstration that most students choose to avoid retrieval practice during learning. However, creating retrieval practice activities that had less difficult endings successfully improved students’ evaluations of and increased their willingness to use retrieval practice. These results have important implications for understanding and overcoming the barriers that prevent students from practicing retrieval.</p>