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Henry L. Roediger III: 3 ideas worth knowing

3 ideas from Henry L. Roediger III, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

• Quizzing yourself beats rereading — even with zero feedback

  Taking a test on material you just studied cements it in memory better than studying it again — even with no feedback on right or wrong answers. Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke…

  — Henry L. Roediger III & Jeffrey D. Karpicke, The Power of Testing Memory: Basic Research and Implications for Educational Practice

• You can be made to 'remember' a word that was never said

  Read a list of words like bed, rest, awake, tired, dream, wake, snooze — and most people will later swear they also heard the word 'sleep,' even though it never appeared. This robu…

  — Henry L. Roediger III & Kathleen McDermott, Creating False Memories: Remembering Words Not Presented in Lists

• Testing yourself on material beats re-reading it, even if it feels less productive

  Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke had students study a passage, then either re-read it repeatedly or try to recall it from memory. A week later, the students who had quizzed them…

  — Henry L. Roediger III and Jeffrey D. Karpicke, The Power of Testing Memory: Basic Research and Implications for Educational Practice

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