Neural activations associated with feedback and retrieval success

• There is substantial behavioral evidence for a phenomenon commonly called “ the testing effect ”, i.e. superior memory performance after repeated testing compared to re-study of to-be-learned materials. However, considerably less is known about the underlying neuro-cognitive processes that are involved in the initial testing phase and thus underlies the actual testing effect. Here, we investigated functional brain activity related to test-enhanced learning with feedback. Subjects learned foreign vocabulary across three consecutive tests with correct-answer feedback. Functional brain-activity responses were analyzed in relation to retrieval and feedback events, respectively. Results revealed up-regulated activity in fronto-striatal regions during the first successful retrieval, followed by a marked reduction in activity as a function of improved learning. Whereas feedback improved behavioral performance across consecutive tests, feedback had a negligable role after the first successful retrieval for functional brain-activity modulations. It is suggested that the beneficial effects of test-enhanced learning is regulated by feedback-induced updating of memory representations, mediated via the striatum, that might underlie the stabilization of memory commonly seen in behavioral studies of the testing effect.

Ämnesord

Medical and Health Sciences  (hsv)

Basic Medicine  (hsv)

Neurosciences  (hsv)

Medicin och hälsovetenskap  (hsv)

Medicinska grundvetenskaper  (hsv)

Neurovetenskaper  (hsv)

Social Sciences  (hsv)

Psychology  (hsv)

Psychology (excluding Applied Psychology)  (hsv)

Samhällsvetenskap  (hsv)

Psykologi  (hsv)

Psykologi (exklusive tillämpad psykologi)  (hsv)

Psychology  (umu)

psykologi  (umu)

Education  (umu)

pedagogik  (umu)

Nyckelord

test-enhanced learning

feedback

retrieval success

learning