Abstract
This research investigated the influence of test formats and combination of test formats on the testing effect. To investigate the test formats and combination of test formats, following studying a target, participants were asked to restudy the target, test with same format (recall, recall or recognition, recognition) or different format (recall, recognition or recognition, recall) twice. Then, 1 week after restudying or testing, participants took final free recall test. The result of this study shows the effect of test formats and restudying. In many previous studies, prior testing enhanced greater retention than restudying. However, in this study, testing a target doesn’t necessarily enhance memory retention over restudying. It suggests that rather than simply testing a target, the mnemonic strategy used in studying and restudying can improve the retention. Test format itself rather than combination of test formats affect the retention and has different effects on the retention.
