According to a new study, older people can improve their learning abilities by taking regular tests to enhance their memory power.
A new study shows that people who regularly test themselves have better learning capacities than people who simply reread or restudy information.
"The use of testing as a way to learn new information has been thoroughly examined in young students. This research builds on that and supports the notion that educators, or even employers, can use tests to increase learning in adults of all ages," said the study's lead author, Ashley Meyer, PhD, a cognitive psychologist with the Houston Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development Center of Excellence.
This new study was conducted on 60 college students, age 18 to 25, 60 younger adults, age 18 to 25, and 60 older adults, age 55 to 65, either attending school or living in the Houston area.
All participants were given 15 minutes to study and read materials on the following four topics: armadillos, tsunamis, the human heart and black holes. To distract them from what they had learnt, all participants were given some mathematical problems to solve. Soon after, the participants completed a multiple-choice test on two of the topics. They received feedback on their performance from researchers.
During this study it was found that adults retained information as well as college going students when they were tested on information that they just learned and received feedback on the test immediately, rather than having them restudy the information constantly.
This improvement was significant and comparable to the college students, even though the college students performed better on the initial test.
"Both groups benefited from the initial testing more than the additional studying. Taking the test and then being told how many answers they got wrong or correct was enough for these adults to improve their memory of the material as shown in a final, more difficult, test," said Meyer, who conducted the research with co-author Jessica Logan, PhD, at Rice University.
