Working memory capacity and the effect of testing without corrective feedback: a replication study of Agarwal et al. (2017) with modified procedures

Retrieving information from memory enhances retention and later recall compared with restudying (testing effect). Retrieving information from long-term memory involves working memory capacity (WMC). Therefore, the testing effect may be modulated by WMC. However, this prediction is inconsistent with the results of previous studies. When participants retrieved information and received no corrective feedback, the magnitude of the testing effect did not correlate with WMC. As this finding has been reported only once, its replicability was examined in the present study with 120 university students. This experiment employed a paired-associate learning task to measure the magnitude of the testing effect. The testing effect was defined as the difference in memory performance between testing condition and restudy condition. We found that WMC was weakly correlated with cued-recall performance in both conditions, whereas no correlation was found between the magnitude of the testing effect and WMC, replicating the findings of a previous study.