The Influences of Pre-testing Reviews and Delays on Differential-associative Processing versus Conditions in which Students chose their Learning Strategy

Recent studies show that a new strategy called differential-associative processing is effective for learning related concepts; however, our knowledge about differential-associative processing is still limited. Therefore the goals of the present study are to assess the duration of knowledge that is acquired from using differential-associative processing, to determine whether the efficacy of differential-associative processing changes with the addition of a 10-minute pre-testing review, and to compare differential-associate processing to two conditions in which students select their own learning strategy. The results revealed that differential-associative processing was a better strategy for learning related concepts than were either of the two comparison conditions. They also revealed that a 10-minute pre-testing review had a positive additive influence on differential-associative processing. Finally, although the knowledge acquired from using differential-associative processing declined with an increase in delay between learning and testing, the speed of this decline was equivalent to the speed of the decline observed for both comparison conditions.