Abstract
Attempting to retrieve information from memory enhances subsequent learning even if the retrieval is failed. This is called failed retrieval. Although the mechanism of this hasn’t been clarified, but some studies suggest that the activation of related information during retrieval enhances the subsequent learning. And the studies which used word pairs suggest that failed retrieval attempts are valuable only if the correct answer is presented immediately after retrieval attempt. One explanation of this result is that the amount of information to be activated is small. In this study we investigated whether the increase of the amount of retrieved information and delay between retrieval and target presentation influenced later recall. The results showed that the amount of information didn’t facilitate later recall and there’s no interaction between the amount of information and delay. These results suggest that failed retrieval may not be due to semantic activation at the time of retrieval.
