The Positive and Negative Consequences of Multiple-Choice Testing

Roediger, Henry L. III
Marsh, Elizabeth J.

¹Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis
²Psychological and Brain Sciences, Duke University.

³Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Henry L. Roediger, III, Department of Psychology, Washington University, Campus Box 1125, St. Louis, MO, 63130-4899. E-mail: [email protected].

This research was supported by the Collaborative Activity Award from the James S. McDonnell Foundation. We thank Lisa Fazio for her help in collecting the data, Elaina Pelky for help in scoring the data, and Holli Sink for assistance with article preparation.

Received Date: July 26, 2004; Revised Date: March 14, 2005; Accepted Date: March 16, 2005

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 31(5):p 1155-1159, September 2005.

Multiple-choice tests are commonly used in educational settings but with unknown effects on students' knowledge. The authors examined the consequences of taking a multiple-choice test on a later general knowledge test in which students were warned not to guess. A large positive testing effect was obtained: Prior testing of facts aided final cued-recall performance. However, prior testing also had negative consequences. Prior reading of a greater number of multiple-choice lures decreased the positive testing effect and increased production of multiple-choice lures as incorrect answers on the final test. Multiple-choice testing may inadvertently lead to the creation of false knowledge.