Desirable difficulties in relearning retrievals for foreign language vocabulary.

Abstract

According to the desirable difficulty framework, effortful successful retrievals are more effective than easy successful retrievals for promoting long-term memory. Research has also shown the vital importance of relearning for more durable memory, but no previous study has specifically examined the effects of difficulty conditions for relearning. In the present study, 50 participants learned 18 nonwords in one session and then retrieved them in a relearning session the following day either forward (retrieving the target word), backward (retrieving the meaning), or by copying. Successful retrieval could be in the first attempt or in a later round following feedback. The results showed that success in Round 1 was a strong predictor of later retention, especially for forward relearning in the productive test. Forward relearning led to higher retention when the round of retrieval success was controlled, particularly for productive knowledge. However, backward relearning allowed more words to be retrieved in Round 1, culminating in no overall differences in retention between the two directions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).