Work

Practice Testing Facilitates Forward Navigation but Undermines Backward Navigation During Map Learning

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Practice testing (i.e., retrieval practice) has been established as a powerful learning strategy by comparison with many others, such as restudying. The current study explores whether practice testing can boost learning of map routes. Experiment 1 demonstrated that, by comparison with restudying, testing enhanced forward navigation and facilitated memory for peripheral information along the route. Experiment 2 examined the testing effect on backward navigation by asking participants to navigate from the endpoint to the start point in the final recall test. The results showed a negative testing effect: testing produced poorer backward navigation performance by comparison with restudying. Experiment 3 demonstrated that showing participants the tracing of the cursor during the retrieval practice phase eliminated the negative testing effect on backward navigation. Overall, the documented findings suggest that retrieval practice can facilitate forward navigation but impair backward navigation when the navigation task requires reorganization and mental rotation of the learned routes.

Source: Journal of Intelligence

DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence13040049

Authors: Shaohang Liu, Chunliang Yang

Institution: Beijing Normal University

Language: English

Topic: Spatial Cognition and Navigation

Subfield: Automotive Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137

Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities