Does motivation moderate the effectiveness of retrieval as a learning intervention

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2013-05

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The effects of using retrieval as a study method have been found to occur across many contexts, such as in classrooms, with different age groups, and for non-verbal materials (Rohrer & Pashler, 2010). Even though researchers have suggested that this intervention be implemented on a widespread basis, studies to date have not investigated how the important variable of motivation could have an effect on retrieval as a learning intervention. This experiment investigated whether motivational variables would moderate the effect that retrieval has on learning. In this study, retrieval, extrinsic incentives, and intrinsic motivation positively affected performance. Causality orientations did not have an impact on performance or moderate the effect of the incentives. However, none of the included motivational variables moderated the effect of retrieval on learning. These results suggest that retrieval as a learning intervention is equally effective across different motivational conditions.

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