Effects of delayed testing on decisions to stop learning

This study explores whether people’s preference to restrict to-be-learned material is influenced by memory test timing. In Experiments 1a and 2a, participants studied word lists. For control groups, lists were displayed in their entirety, whereas participants in other groups could stop the lists early. We investigated whether participants decided to terminate learning when they expected their free-recall memory to be tested after a short (Experiment 1a) or long (Experiment 2a) delay. Experiments 1b and 2b tested participants’ theoretical assumptions about learning termination. Participants who terminated learning recalled fewer words than those who saw all to-be-remembered materials. When the memory test immediately followed the learning phase, more than half of the participants decided to stop learning. However, when there was any time delay between learning and testing, only around a quarter of them decided to stop. Delayed testing can effectively discourage a maladaptive learning strategy of learning termination.