Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

The present study examined how testing of previously studied materials affects learners subsequent study time allocationwhen learning new materials. Participants learned the painting styles of various artists through two sections (Section A andB). After studying Section A for a fixed time, participants took a test or restudied for Section A and then studied anotherset of artists in Section B for unlimited time. The results showed that while total study time was not different in Section B,the test group outperformed the restudy group on the transfer test of Section B. The test group, however, allocated moretime in the early stage of Section B than the restudy group. Interim testing seems to inhibit study time decrease in theinitial phase of learning and encourage learners to use more effective strategies in their subsequent learning. These resultsalign with the encoding theory of the forward effect of testing.