The Effects of Prequestions versus Postquestions on Memory Retention in Children

Author(s)

de Lima, Natalia Klik ^[1] ; Jaeger, Antonio ^{[2, 1]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Fed Minas Gerais, Dept Psychol, Antonio Carlos Ave 6627, BR-31270901 Belo Horizonte, MG - Brazil

^[2] Inst Nacl Ciencia & Tecnol Comportamento Cognicao, Belo Horizonte, MG - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN MEMORY AND COGNITION; v. 9, n. 4, p. 555-563, DEC 2020.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Prior research revealed that answering questions after study benefits learning in children, but it is unclear whether answering questions before study (i.e., prequestions) produces similar effects. Here, we report two experiments investigating this issue in 4th and 5th grade children. In both experiments, target-words from an encyclopedic text were either prequestioned, postquestioned, or reread. To assess memory retention, cued recall and multiple choice tests were administered after a 7-day interval, when children also rated their confidence on their responses. Both prequestions and postquestions resulted in overall greater memory retention than rereading, although postquestions resulted in greater cued recall performance than prequestions, a finding that was mirrored by the confidence data (i.e., postquestion > prequestion > reread). Thus, although both prequestions and postquestions were more beneficial for memory retention than rereading, postquestions seem to have promoted more recollection-based retrieval than prequestions, a finding we discuss from a dual-process model perspective. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/50909-8 - INCT 2014: Behavior, Cognition and Teaching (INCT-ECCE): relational learning and symbolic functioning
• Grantee: Deisy das Graças de Souza
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants