Reference
Henry L. Roediger III
The testing effect, the finding that retrieving something is a better way to learn it than reviewing it, is largely his work with Jeffrey Karpicke.
Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke ran a comparison that has since been repeated in a great many forms. One group studied material and then studied it again. Another studied it once and then tried to recall it without looking. On an immediate test the re-readers did slightly better and felt far more confident. A week later the recall group was substantially ahead.
The effect is called retrieval practice, or the testing effect, and it is one of the better replicated findings in the psychology of learning. The part worth sitting with is the mismatch: re-reading feels like learning and largely is not, while retrieval feels like failing and largely is learning. Confidence is a poor guide to which one is working, which is why people keep choosing the weaker method.
Referenced work
- The testing effect (with Jeffrey Karpicke, 2006) reference
Elsewhere
Listed here because we name Henry L. Roediger III in our writing. We are not affiliated with them and this page is our summary, not theirs.