Exams at classroom have bidirectional effects on the long-term memory of an unrelated graphical task

LOPES DA CUNHA, P.; RAMIREZ BUTAVAND, D.; CHISARI, L. B.; BALLARINI, F.; VIOLA, H.

npj Science of Learning

Nature Publishing Group

Año: 2018 vol. 3

The influence of a given event on long-term memory formation of another one has been a relevant topic of study in theneuroscience field in recent years. Students at school learn contents which are usually tested in exam format. However, examelevates the arousal state of the students acting as a mild stressor that could influence another memory formation ongoing process.Thus, in this study we examine in high school students the effect of exams on long-term retention of unrelated information, learnedat different times before or after the exams. Our results show that exams are not innocuous and that they could improve or reducethe retention of temporarily associated content. These effects did not show gender differences. Our findings should alert teachersabout the side effects of exams on the learning of other content within the same school day.