Impact of Metacognitive Beliefs on the Testing Effect

Though testing in education is a contentious issue, research in cognitive psychology has found that testing can be beneficial in the learning process. The testing effect refers to the improved memory seen when a person uses retrieval practice (e.g., taking a test) compared to when they restudy information (e.g., rereading it). While some researchers have encouraged an increase in testing to aid learning, many students do not view testing as an effective way to learn information. The purpose of the current study was to explore how beliefs about the efficacy of testing (i.e., retrieval practice) impact the testing effect. Specifically, we were interested in whether having negative views about retrieval practice would reduce or even eliminate the testing effect. Beliefs about retrieval practice were manipulated between-subject, creating three bias conditions: positive, negative, and control. All participants were exposed to foreign language word pairs and short scientific texts, which they then studied by either rereading the material (restudy) or by trying to recall the information on their own (retrieval practice). After two days, participants were tested on the material, and their recall rates were analyzed. No testing effects were observed in any of the bias conditions, which has important implications for online experimentation. However, participants' beliefs were effectively manipulated, and belief in the efficacy of retrieval practice appeared to influence the effort put into the study phase of the word pairs task, indicating that this experimental design is valid and the topic should be explored more.Bachelor of Scienc