Test Format Matching Moderates the Forward Testing Effect

The forward testing effect refers to the benefit of prior testing relative to a control task on memory for subsequently learned material. The current experiment examined the effects of test format similarity and expectations on the forward testing effect. Participants studied two lists of unrelated word pairs. Following the first list, participants were either tested on it or asked to restudy it. The format of testing the first list was either cued recall or free recall. Before the presentation of the second list, participants were or were not told whether it would be tested with cued or free recall. Both types of initial test yielded a forward testing effect. The magnitude of the forward testing effect was larger when the test formats for the lists matched. Instructions improved recall independently of the similarity of the test formats across the lists. Intrusions of words from List 1 on List 2 recall were reduced by testing the first list, but that effect did not depend on the matching of test formats. The correct recall results support the metacognitive theory explanation of the forward testing effect.