Learning from Memory Retrieval Attempts and Corrective Feedback
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Learning from Memory Retrieval Attempts and Corrective Feedback Jack Mitchell Ingram Leggett Bachelor of Psychological Science (Hons IIA) A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Queensland in 2019 School of Psychology Abstract Retrieving a memory can alter its form and its strength. Deliberate retrieval attempts take place often in everyday life, so understanding their effects is an important part of understanding the workings of memory as a whole. For example, deliberately retrieving information protects it somewhat against forgetting, and learning activities that involve retrieval (called retrieval practice) are often much more effective than similar activities that do not. The retrieval practice effect appears to be very general, having been found in a variety of tasks, educational subject areas, and age groups. In fact, learning benefits can be gained even when retrieval attempts fail—in many situations, incorrectly guessing an answer improves learning, as long as the correct answer is given to the learner after they guess. This thesis is intended to increase our knowledge of the cognitive mechanisms responsible for these effects, and of the practical value of retrieval practice in education. In Chapter 1, I explore whether corrective feedback effects, like standard retrieval practice effects, also depend on the strength of the relationship between the cue used to initiate a retrieval attempt (or guess) and the target information that is to be learned. Our findings indicate that relatively strong pre-existing cue-target relationships weaken both effects, giving some support to the idea that they arise from some common mechanisms. In Chapter 2, I report experiments using the corrective feedback paradigm to test the mediation hypothesis, a general mechanistic account that has been advanced to explain retrieval practice and corrective feedback effects. These experiments produced evidence against the mediation hypothesis when applied to learning from corrective feedback, and cast some doubt on its ability to explain retrieval practice effects in general. Further theoretical work may consider alternative explanations, perhaps involving roles for curiosity and surprise. 1 In Chapter 3, I report an experiment with a retrieval practice and feedback activity in a school classroom. In running this experiment we were interested in how retrieval difficulty and student performance during practice might affect the reliability of the retrieval practice effect. Although our manipulations of retrieval difficulty had inconsistent effects, retrieval practice with feedback was a more effective review activity than reading for most students. This advantage held true even for students who answered most of their practice questions incorrectly, perhaps because of strong feedback effects, suggesting that properly implemented retrieval practice can help students regardless of their ability. Our procedures for ensuring prior exposure to the learning material and attention to feedback may have been important here, and these factors deserve careful consideration in future applied research. 2 Declaration by Author This thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in the text. I have clearly stated the contribution by others to jointly-authored works that I have included in my thesis. I have clearly stated the contribution of others to my thesis as a whole, including statistical assistance, survey design, data analysis, significant technical procedures, professional editorial advice, and any other original research work used or reported in my thesis. The content of my thesis is the result of work I have carried out since the commencement of my research higher degree candidature and does not include a substantial part of work that has been submitted to qualify for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution. I have clearly stated which parts of my thesis, if any, have been submitted to qualify for another award. I acknowledge that an electronic copy of my thesis must be lodged with the University Library and, subject to the policy and procedures of The University of Queensland, the thesis be made available for research and study in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968 unless a period of embargo has been approved by the Dean of the Graduate School. I acknowledge that copyright of all material contained in my thesis resides with the copyright holder(s) of that material. Where appropriate I have obtained copyright permission from the copyright holder to reproduce material in this thesis. 3 Publications During Candidature Journal Publications Leggett, J. M. I., Burt, J. S., & Carroll, A. (in press). Retrieval practice can improve classroom review despite low practice test performance. Applied Cognitive Psychology. Leggett, J. M. I., Burt, J. S., & Ceccato, J. (in press). Repetition priming and repetition blindness: Effects of an intervening distractor word. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology. Conference Presentations Leggett, J. M. I., & Burt, J. S., (2018). Can elaboration explain why guessing improves verbal learning? Proceedings of the 45th Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference. Hobart, Australia. Leggett, J. M. I., Burt, J. S., & Carroll, A. (2017). Retrieval practice in year 9 geography classes. Proceedings of the International Science of Learning Conference. Brisbane, Australia. Leggett, J. M. I., & Burt, J. S. (2016). Retrieval errors aid learning if corrected: Effects of error severity and feedback duration. Proceedings of the 43rd Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference. Melbourne, Australia. 4 Publications Included in this Thesis Incorporated as Chapter 3: Leggett, J. M. I., Burt, J. S., & Carroll, A. (in press). Retrieval practice can improve classroom review despite low practice test performance. Applied Cognitive Psychology. Contributor Statement of Contribution Jack M. I. Leggett (Candidate) Designed the experiment (80%) Collected data (100%) Analysed and interpreted data (90%) Wrote the manuscript (90%) Jennifer S. Burt Designed the experiment (10%) Analysed and interpreted data (10%) Wrote the manuscript (5%) Annemaree Carroll Designed the experiment (10%) Wrote the manuscript (5%) Submitted Manuscripts Included in this Thesis Incorporated as Chapter 2: Leggett, J. M. I., & Burt, J. S. Errors may not cue recall of corrective feedback: Evidence against the mediation hypothesis of the testing effect. Manuscript under revision. Contributor Statement of Contribution Jack M. I. Leggett (Candidate) Designed the experiment (80%) Collected data (100%) Analysed and interpreted data (90%) Wrote the manuscript (90%) Jennifer S. Burt Designed the experiment (20%) Analysed and interpreted data (10%) Wrote the manuscript (10%) Other Publications During Candidature No other publications. 5 Contributions by Others to this Thesis Jennifer S. Burt contributed to the design and interpretation of all experiments, and made comments on all written work. Annemaree Carroll contributed to the design, interpretation, and writing-up of the experiment reported in Chapter 3, and provided vital assistance in securing the cooperation of a school in which to run that experiment. Statement of Parts of the Thesis Submitted to Qualify for the Award of Another Degree No works submitted towards another degree have been included in this thesis. Research Involving Human or Animal Subjects The University of Queensland Human Research Ethics Committee Clearance Number: 13-PSYCH-PhD-91-TS 6 Acknowledgements I would like to thank those who helped me during my time working towards completing this thesis. I feel very fortunate to have been able to spend this time immersed in the wonderful culture of UQ’s school of psychology, and to work with academics whom I have greatly admired since I was an undergraduate student. I would first like to thank my advisor, Jenny Burt, for her infinite generosity throughout these several years. I cannot imagine a better mentor. We sometimes joke that we share weaknesses. I aspire to also share some of your strengths. I am thankful too for the kind support of other academics, including my associate advisor Annemaree Carroll, who has given me many fantastic opportunities to pursue my interest in applying research to education. My thanks go also to Mike Humphreys, whose insights contributed importantly to the designs of my laboratory experiments, and to John McLean, one of my greatest teachers. Finally, I am grateful to my parents Mark and Susan, my bother Walter, and to my friends Ruben, Jo-Maree, Laura, Matti, and Perri, for support, perspective, and enriching conversation. 7 Financial Support No financial support was provided to fund this research. Keywords Psychology, education, learning, memory, retrieval practice, testing effect, error, feedback, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classifications (ANZSRC) ANZSRC code: 170199, Psychology not elsewhere classified (60%) ANZSRC code: 170103, Educational Psychology (40%) Fields of Research (FoR) Classification FoR code: 1701, Psychology (100%) 8 Table of Contents GENERAL INTRODUCTION................................................................................................11 CHAPTER 1: Strong Cues Weaken the Pretesting Effect in Paired Associate Learning...................................................................................................................................22