研究人员报告说，测验并不只是告诉我们我们对某事物的记忆有多好，测验实际上还可帮助我们记忆某事物。
关键性的原因之一看来是，当我们在被测试的时候会比我们只是在学习时给予我们自己更为有效的心理暗示。 Mary Pyc 和 Katherine Rawson在其撰写的Brevium中称这些心理提示为“介体”，并将介体定义为我们试图记住的与“目标”的某种提示相联系的字、短语或概念。 他们假定，在测验中所用的介体比在简单地学习时所用的介体更可能被记住且能更有效地使用。
为了测试这种假设，研究人员给100名大学生呈现了48对诸如“wingu-cloud”这样的斯瓦西里语的字和英语字。 在最初的学习阶段，学生们被要求提出看上去或听起来与外语提示类似的介体，而这些介体与该英语目标在语义上是相关的。 在“wingu-cloud”这个例子中，“wing”可能就是介体。 那些在记忆过程的中途被测验的学生会在最终的测试中比那些中途未被测验的学生获得更好的成绩。 并且，在第一次的测验时就要求学生记住他们自己的介体可进一步提高他们的成绩。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐英文摘要：
Science DOI:10.1126/science.1191465
Why Testing Improves Memory: Mediator Effectiveness Hypothesis
Mary A. Pyc* and Katherine A. Rawson
A wealth of research has established that practice tests improve memory for the tested material. Although the benefits of practice tests are well documented, the mechanisms underlying testing effects are not well understood. We propose the mediator effectiveness hypothesis, which states that more-effective mediators (that is, information linking cues to targets) are generated during practice involving tests with restudy versus during restudy only. Effective mediators must be retrievable at time of test and must elicit the target response. We evaluated these two components of mediator effectiveness for learning foreign language translations during practice involving either test-restudy or restudy only. Supporting the mediator effectiveness hypothesis, test-restudy practice resulted in mediators that were more likely to be retrieved and more likely to elicit targets on a final test.
Department of Psychology, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA.
