1 Two-Pronged Approach: Optimizing Long-Term Retention • What theoretical mechanisms underlie distributed practice? • How do these mechanisms inform practical application? Delay of Feedback • Does delayed feedback aid long-term recall? • How long should feedback be delayed? Carpenter, Pashler, Cepeda, & Vul, 2006 Does Delayed Feedback Aid Long-Term Recall? Delayed Feedback: Experiment 1 Paradigm • No feedback (baseline) • Immediate feedback (no delay) • Delayed feedback (very short 3 s delay) • Recall measured one week later Delayed Feedback: Experiment 1 Paradigm Delayed Feedback: Experiment 1 Results
• What theoreticalmechanisms underliedistributed practice?
• How do thesemechanisms informpractical application?
Delay of Feedback
• Does delayed feedback aid long-termrecall?
• How long should feedback be delayed?
Carpenter, Pashler, Cepeda, & Vul, 2006
Does Delayed Feedback AidLong-Term Recall?
Delayed Feedback:Experiment 1 Paradigm
• No feedback (baseline)• Immediate feedback (no delay)• Delayed feedback (very short 3 s delay)
• Recall measured one week later
Delayed Feedback:Experiment 1 Paradigm
Delayed Feedback:Experiment 1 Results
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Educational Implications
• Use flashcards• When using flashcards, introduce a
delay before showing yourself theanswer
Class Question• Does delayed feedback influence very-
short-term recall, such as whencramming for a test? How did you reachthat conclusion?
How Long Should FeedbackBe Delayed?
How Long Should Feedbackbe Delayed?
• Immediate feedback allows errors to becorrected right away
• Delayed feedback allows memory forerror responses to weaken, reducinginterference
What About Very DelayedFeedback?
• Perhaps teachers need to givefeedback as well, so…
• After giving an exam, when shouldteachers return that exam, withcorrected answers? Immediately, a daylater, or at an even more distant point inthe future?
Experiment 2 Paradigm
• Learn a set of facts• Receive a test on those facts, the same
day, or one day later• Receive feedback, the same day as the
• To what sorts of materials can theseeffects be generalized?
• What other types of materials might beamenable to feedback effects?
What Mechanism ExplainsDelayed Feedback Benefits?
• Encoding variability– Increased spacing between learning
episodes leads to increasingly varied item-context associations, because of increasedcontextual differences between learningepisodes
– By having multiple stimulus-contextassociations available, it becomes morelikely that one of the study contexts willmatch the test context, thereby increasingthe chance of later recall
Why Should We Care AboutTheory?
• Based on theories, we can predictwhich types of materials will benefitfrom delayed feedback
• Using theories, researchers can modeland predict the optimal timing offeedback, in order to maximize laterretention
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Do These Studies Meet RigorousEvidence Guidelines?
• Time to determine if these studies meetrigorous evidence guidelines
• As a teacher, you should evaluate theextent to which rigorous guidelines aremet, in order to determine if you shouldimplement a technique in yourclassroom
Group activity
• Generate questions for the studyauthors, so you can determine if thefeedback studies meet rigorousevidence guidelines laid out in the IESguides
Class Activity
• Ask questions of the author
Applying to the Classroom
• Should you use testing and feedback inyour classroom?
• If so– When?– For which types of materials?– Which ages?– What kind of testing and feedback delays
would you use?
Effects of Multiple-ChoiceTests on Fact Retention
• What are positive effects of multiple-choice testing?
• Are there any negative consequences?
Roediger & Marsh, 2005
Testing Effects:Experiment 1 Paradigm
• 24 undergrads• TOEFL and GRE readings• Two factors
– Read or not read the passage– 0, 2, 4, or 6 alternative multiple choice tests
(0 means not tested)
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Testing Effect:Experiment 1 Paradigm
• Phases of study– Reading– Multiple-choice test– Filler task: Visuospatial brainteasers– Final cued-recall test
• No feedback was provided!
Testing Effects:Experiment 1 Results
First testing phase
Testing Effects:Experiment 1 Results Generalization of Findings
• Will these findings generalize to non-fact-learning multiple-choice tests?
• Why or why not?
Testing Effects
• A more recent study shows thatproviding feedback after the multiplechoice test eliminates some but not allof the later fact recall deficits
Testing Effects in aReal-World Classroom
• Eighth grade U.S. History class– Who assassinated president Abraham
Lincoln? John Wilkes Booth• At end of year or start of next year
– Study– Testing with feedback– No review
• Nine months after relearning – final test
Carpenter, Pashler, & Cepeda, 2007
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Classroom Study Results
Distributed Practice
Study Study
Study Study
Time
Spaced
Massed
Distributed Practice
Study Study
Study Study
RetentionTest
Time
Spaced
Massed
Distributed Practice
Study Study
Study Study
RetentionTest
Time
Inter-Study IntervalRetention Interval
Optimal ISI Possibilities
• One single ISI always optimal• One single ISI/RI ratio always optimal• Something more complicated
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Moving From Hypothesis toApplication
• How are we able to translate from thesethree optimal ISI hypotheses to practicalrecommendations for teachers?
• Optimal ISI increases as RI increases• Optimal ISI/RI ratio decreases as RI increases
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Encoding Variability Model
• Each learning session, item and current context are stored• Context varies over time• Similarity between study and test contexts determines recallprobability
Optimal ISI in the Classroom
• Given that– Optimal ISI varies with retention interval– Optimal ISI/RI ratio decreases as RI
increases• How should teachers apply distributed
practice in the classroom?
Optimal ISI Possibilities
• One single ISI always optimal• One single ISI/RI ratio always optimal• Something more complicated
Optimal ISI in the Classroom
• Distribute learning episodes by at leastone day
• Even better, use several weeks ormonths between learning episodes
Optimal ISI in the Classroom
• Cumulative tests• Mix up course content throughout the
semester
Can We Generalize to ActualClassrooms?
• Toronto middle-school vocabularylearning study
• 5 week retention interval• Massed, same-day, and one week ISIs
