| dc.description.abstract | There is a considerable amount of research showing retrieval practice consistently outperforms restudying as a learning method. This superior performance, also termed the Testing Effect (TE), is posited as a result of the encoding and retrieval of contextual elements by the Episodic Context Account (ECA). The ECA relies on four assumptions to explain the beneficial effects of retrieval practice. Because part of one assumption, the ECA states the difficulty involved in mentally, or self-reinstating, the context of a target memory is related to the enhancement it receives during its retrieval. The ECA also assumes the encoding and updating of contextual elements contributes to the benefit of retrieval practice. In six experiments, (pictorial) context self-reinstatement difficulty and updating were examined to test their roles within retrieval practice. Experiment 1 – 3 opted for a single practice/study block design before a final memory test. This set of experiments showed a lack of a TE, and even its reversal, when practice conditions enabled self-reinstatement of context and updating. Experiments 4 – 6 increased the number of practice/study blocks to three to test those same factors as part of an extended learning schedule. These latter experiments did yield TEs, but practice conditions, of varying degrees of self-reinstatement and updating, did not differ from one another. In general, it was the use of context cues, either through self-reinstatement or when provided during practices, that appeared to confer benefits to retention. | en |
