ArticlePloS one2014
Uncovering the neural mechanisms underlying learning from tests.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Dopamine Enhances Item Novelty Detection via Hippocampal and Associative Recall via Left Lateral Prefrontal Cortex Mechanisms.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2019Trial
- Predictive learning as the basis of the testing effect.Communications psychology · 2025Article
- A working memory dependent dual process model of the testing effect.NPJ science of learning · 2024Review
- Retrieval practice is costly and is beneficial only when working memory capacity is abundant.NPJ science of learning · 2023Article
- Retrieval practice facilitates learning by strengthening processing in both the anterior and posterior hippocampus.Brain and behavior · 2021Article
- Neural Correlates of Long-Term Memory Enhancement Following Retrieval Practice.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2021Article
- Retrieval Practice Is Effective Regardless of Self-ReportedFrontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Semantic knowledge influences whether novel episodic associations are represented symmetrically or asymmetrically.Memory & cognition · 2019Article
- Retrieval Practice Facilitates Judgments of Learning Through Multiple Mechanisms: Simultaneous and Independent Contribution of Retrieval Confidence and Retrieval Fluency.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Article
- Neural reactivation in parietal cortex enhances memory for episodically linked information.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2018Article
- Neural activations associated with feedback and retrieval success.NPJ science of learning · 2017Article
- fMRI exploration of pedagogical benefits of repeated testing: when more is not always better.Brain and behavior · 2016Article
- Lesser Neural Pattern Similarity across Repeated Tests Is Associated with Better Long-Term Memory Retention.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
People learn better when re-study opportunities are replaced with tests. While researchers have begun to speculate on why testing is superior to study, few studies have directly examined the neural underpinnings of this effect. In this fMRI study, participants engaged in a study phase to learn arbitrary word pairs, followed by a cued recall test (recall second half of pair when cued with first word of pair), re-study of each pair, and finally another cycle of cued recall tests. Brain activation patterns during the first test (recall) of the studied pairs predicts performance on the second test. Importantly, while subsequent memory analyses of encoding trials also predict later accuracy, the brain regions involved in predicting later memory success are more extensive for activity during retrieval (testing) than during encoding (study). Those additional regions that predict subsequent memory based on their activation at test but not at encoding may be key to understanding the basis of the testing effect.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.