The #
1# misconception about retrieval practice is that some people mistakenly think it slows down their learning.
They experience a comfortable sense of fluency while following along with a stream of information, whereas pausing to pull that information out of their head breaks the flow, and occasionally failing the retrieval makes them feel like they’re not learning as much.
But really, all that’s happening is that retrieval practice is bringing their perception of learning more in line with their actual learning. It speeds up their actual learning, slows down their perception of learning, and exposes that “following along” is not the same as learning.