The Forward Testing Effect in Spatial Route Learning in Patients with
Schizophrenia
Abstract
It is not known whether patients with schizophrenia can improve their
ability to learn new information through tests. We conducted two
experiments—to explore the forward testing effects in schizophrenic
patients in learning a new route—with 124 schizophrenic patients and a
control group of 124 randomly selected healthy. All participants were
tasked with learning a two-dimensional planar route map consisting of
four lists (Experiment 1) and three-dimensional video spatial route
information (Experiment 2). Results from Experiment 1 demonstrated that
in a two-dimensional planar route map, both schizophrenic and healthy
participants recalled the spatial route information under the test
condition versus the repetitive learning condition. In Experiment 2, we
used three-dimensional video spatial route information and obtained the
same results found in Experiment 1. This study suggests that by using
preposed tests, patients with schizophrenia could suppress proactive
interference and gain general benefits, including forward-backward
effects of retrieval practice. Therefore, tests may be a powerful tool
for improving learning and memory in patients with schizophrenia.