← Spaced RepetitionReview design

Feedback and error correction

Feedback is not decoration. It is part of how retrieval becomes corrective rather than misleading.

Key findings

  1. 01

    Retrieval practice can work without feedback, but feedback often improves outcomes, especially when learners are uncertain.

  2. 02

    Multiple-choice formats have a specific failure mode: lures can plant false knowledge. Feedback can strengthen the benefits and reduce the harms.

  3. 03

    Feedback matters even on correct answers when confidence was low, because it corrects a metacognitive error about what was actually known.

  4. 04

    Systematic review evidence from real classrooms supports retrieval practice plus feedback as a repeatable pattern rather than a lab-only result.

  5. 05

    Timing is a design lever. Immediate and delayed feedback can produce different trade-offs depending on what the system is optimizing for.

References

5 sources
  1. 1.

    The critical role of retrieval practice in long-term retention (2011). Trends in Cognitive Sciences. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2010.09.003.

  2. 2.

    Feedback enhances positive and reduces negative effects of multiple-choice testing (2008). doi: 10.3758/mc.36.3.604.

  3. 3.

    Feedback increases retention of low-confidence correct responses (2008).

  4. 4.

    Retrieval practice consistently benefits student learning: systematic review (2021). Educational Psychology Review. doi: 10.1007/s10648-021-09595-9.

  5. 5.

    Timing of feedback and retrieval practice: laboratory investigation (2024).