The Influence of Judgments of Learning on Long-Term Learning and Short-Term Performance

Abstract

Students must retain information they learn in class over the long term because it may be foundational for upper-level classes or for use in their field. Recently, researchers have demonstrated that making judgments of learning (JOLs) can enhance students’ short-term performance; however, it is unclear how they influence long-term learning. We evaluated this issue in three experiments. Participants studied related word pairs (e.g., castle–king). Half of the participants made a JOL for each pair and half did not. Participants took a cued-recall test after either a long retention interval (2 days) or short retention interval (3 min). Participants who made JOLs outperformed participants who did not, which was evident on long-term learning as well as short-term performance. Continuously cumulating meta-analyses revealed that these effects were strong (long-term learning, d =.66; short-term performance, d =.71). Thus, making JOLs appears to be an effective strategy to increase long-term retention of related information.