Abstract
Educational systems are rarely designed for long-term retention of information. Strong
evidence has emerged from cognitive psychology and applied education studies that
repeated retrieval of information significantly improves retention compared to repeated
studying. This effect likely emerges from the processes of memory consolidation and
reconsolidation. Consolidation and reconsolidation are the means by which memories
are organized into associational networks or schemas that are created and recreated
as memories are formed and recalled. As educators implement retrieval practice, they
should consider how various test formats lead to different degrees of schema activation.
Repeated acts of retrieval provide opportunities for schemas to be updated and strengthened.
Spacing of retrieval allows more consolidated schemas to be reactivated. Feedback
provides metacognitive monitoring to ensure retrieval accuracy and can lead to shifts
from ineffective to effective retrieval strategies. By using the principles of retrieval
practice, educators can improve the likelihood that learners will retain information
for longer periods of time.
Keywords
memory - learning - retrieval practice - test-enhanced learning - schema - medical
education
