The benefits of retrieval practice depend on item difficulty and intelligence.

Minear, Meredith; Coane, Jennifer H.; Boland, Sarah C.; Cooney, Leah H.; Albat, Marissa

doi:10.1037/xlm0000486

Cited by 64Memory Processes and InfluencesSecond Language Acquisition and LearningVisual and Cognitive Learning Processes

The benefits of retrieval practice depend on item difficulty and intelligence.

Minear, Meredith, Coane, Jennifer H., Boland, Sarah C., Cooney, Leah H., Albat, Marissa·2018·Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition

DOI 10.1037/xlm0000486

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Abstract

The authors examined whether individual differences in fluid intelligence (gF) modulate the testing effect. Participants studied Swahili-English word pairs and repeatedly studied half the pairs or attempted retrieval, with feedback, for the remaining half. Word pairs were easy or difficult to learn. Overall, participants showed a benefit of testing over restudy. However, almost 1/3 of the sample had a negative testing effect and benefitted more from restudy than testing, as well as performing better overall. These individuals self-reported less use of shallower encoding strategies than positive testing effect participants but did not differ in other dimensions. For individuals with a positive testing effect, difficulty had differential effects on participants who scored high or low on a measure of gF, with high gF participants showing larger testing effects for difficult over easy items, whereas low gF participants showed the opposite. Working memory performance was not related to the magnitude of the testing effect; however, vocabulary knowledge revealed a similar pattern as gF, with higher vocabulary associated with a testing effect for difficult but not easy items. This suggests that the benefit of retrieval practice varies with item difficulty and participant abilities. Thus, recommendations to engage in retrieval practice should take into consideration the interactive effects of to-be-learned materials and individual differences in the learners. (PsycINFO Database Record

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In retrieval learning literature, differences in both task and item difficulty can affect final performance on a memory task.
“In retrieval learning literature, there are differences in how both task (the way in which the learning material is presented; (Carpenter & DeLosh, 2006; Kang et al., 2007; Pyc & Rawson, 2009; Stenlund et al., 2016) and item (the learning material itself; de Lima et al., 2020; Minear et al., 2018; Pyke et al., 2023; Vaughn et al., 2013) difficulty can affect final performance on a memory task.”
From Does difficulty moderate learning? A comparative analysis of the desirable difficulties framework and cognitive load theory (2025) · cites this paper as Minear et al., 2018

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Minear&Coane_The Benefits of Retrieval Practice Depend on Item Difficulty and IntelligencePreprint
Minear, M. E., & Coane, J. H. (2018) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/jk6d7
Self-citation
Variability in the Benefits of Retrieval Practice: An Individual Differences Approach
Minear, M. E., Cooney, L. H., & Boland, S. E. (2015) · Digital Commons - Colby (Colby College)
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Does Item Difficulty Affect the Magnitude of the Retrieval Practice Effect? An Evaluation of the Retrieval Effort Hypothesis
de Lima, M. F. R., Júnior, S. V. P., da Costa, J. F. D., & Buratto, L. G. (2020) · The Spanish Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1017/sjp.2020.33 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
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Authors: Minear, M., Coane, J. H., Boland, S. C., Cooney, L. H., & Albat, M.
Affiliations: University of Wyoming (US)
Colby College (US)
ORCID: Minear, Meredith
Coane, Jennifer H.
Venue: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Published: 2018-09
Volume: 44
Issue: 9
Pages: 1474-1486
ISSN: 0278-7393 (ISSN-L)
1939-1285
DOI: 10.1037/xlm0000486
OpenAlex: W2797665395
Cited by: 63
References: 0
Citations by year: 2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 1 · 2016: 1
FWCI: 4.17
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders: Colby College (01.2222)
James McDonnell Foundation (220020426)
Topics: Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Second Language Acquisition and Learning
Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes
Keywords: retrieval practice, testing effect, fluid intelligence, item difficulty, individual differences, restudy, feedback, encoding strategies, working memory, vocabulary knowledge
MeSH terms: Female, Humans, Intelligence, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Practice, Psychological, Problem Solving, Mental Recall, Vocabulary, Feedback, Psychological, Young Adult

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The benefits of retrieval practice depend on item difficulty and intelligence.

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