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Not New, but Nearly Forgotten: the Testing Effect Decreases or even Disappears as the Complexity of Learning Materials Increases

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van Gog, Tamara, Sweller, John·2015·Educational Psychology Review

DOI 10.1007/s10648-015-9310-x

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Abstract

The testing effect is a finding from cognitive psychology with relevance for education. It shows that after an initial study period, taking a practice test improves long-term retention compared to not taking a test and—more interestingly—compared to restudying the learning material. Boundary conditions of the effect that have received attention include the test format, retrieval success on the initial test, the retention interval, or the spacing of tests. Another potential boundary condition concerns the complexity of learning materials, that is, the number of interacting information elements a learning task contains. This insight is not new, as research from a century ago already had indicated that the testing effect decreases as the complexity of learning materials increases, but that finding seems to have been nearly forgotten. Studies presented in this special issue suggest that the effect may even disappear when the complexity of learning material is very high. Since many learning tasks in schools are high in element interactivity, a failure to find the effect under these conditions is relevant for education. Therefore, this special issue hopes to put this potential boundary condition back on the radar and provide a starting point for discussion and future research on this topic.

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Authors: van Gog, T., & Sweller, J.
Affiliations: Utrecht University (NL)
UNSW Sydney (AU)
Corresponding author: van Gog, Tamara
ORCID: van Gog, Tamara
Sweller, John
Venue: Educational Psychology Review
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published: 2015-05-16
Volume: 27
Issue: 2
Pages: 247-264
ISSN: 1040-726X (ISSN-L)
1573-336X
DOI: 10.1007/s10648-015-9310-x
OpenAlex: W2128915986
Cited by: 164
References: 93
Citations by year: 2026: 11 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 4
FWCI: 7.61
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: hybrid
doi.org
Licence: cc-by
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 (unspecified)
Locations: Educational Psychology Review (publishedVersion, cc-by)
EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
RePub (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion)
Funders: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (452‐11‐006)
Topics: Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes
Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods
Keywords: testing effect, learning complexity, element interactivity, long-term retention, practice tests, restudying, boundary conditions, retrieval practice

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Not New, but Nearly Forgotten: the Testing Effect Decreases or even Disappears as the Complexity of Learning Materials Increases

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