Why you forget · 05
Elaborative Interrogation: How Asking Why Helps You Remember
You know what happened. Do you know why? How asking yourself why a fact is true helps you remember it, with examples and the limits of the research.
You know what happened: 1789, the Bastille, the Revolution. Then the exam asks why, and the facts you memorized don't add up to an answer.
Elaborative interrogation means asking yourself why a fact is true and answering in your own words. In a classic experiment, students who worked out the reason themselves remembered about twice as much as students who just read the fact, or who were simply told the reason.
The experiment
Students learned a list of simple sentences about different men, like "The hungry man got into the car." They were split into three groups:
- Just read it. They read each sentence.
- Were given the reason. The sentence came with an explanation: "...to go to the restaurant."
- Asked themselves why. For each sentence they answered the question "Why did that particular man do that?"
Later came the test: "Who got into the car?"
The students who had asked themselves why remembered about 72%. The other two groups remembered about 37% each (Pressley et al., 1987, as described by Dunlosky et al., 2013).
The surprising part is the middle group. Being told the reason didn't help at all. Working it out did. The reason has to be yours.
Why it works
Asking why makes you connect a new fact to something you already know. That connection gives you a way back to the fact later. A fact on its own is easy to lose; a fact with a reason attached, in your own words, has something holding it in place.
Where it works, and where it doesn't
The big review of study techniques rated elaborative interrogation "moderate utility": promising, but with limits (Dunlosky et al., 2013).
- It's been tested mostly on lists of facts and fairly short delays, more than on whole courses.
- It works best when you already know a little about the topic. To answer "why", you need something to connect it to. Students who knew very little about a subject benefited less.
- It suits facts with a reason behind them. "Leaves are green" has a why. A date on its own doesn't.
What helps: write why next to each key fact
- Find the key facts in your notes or reading.
- Next to each, write "Why?" and answer it from memory, in your own words.
- Check your answer against the textbook or your notes.
- If you can't answer, that's a gap. Look it up, then try again later without looking.
Some examples:
- Biology. Leaves look green. Why? Chlorophyll absorbs mostly red and blue light, and reflects green.
- Geography. Deserts get cold at night. Why? Dry air holds little water vapour to trap heat, so the heat escapes after sunset.
- Economics. When the price of something rises, people buy less of it. Why? It takes a bigger share of their budget, and they switch to cheaper substitutes.
- Chemistry. Raising the pressure shifts a gas equilibrium toward the side with fewer molecules. Why? Fewer gas molecules take up less space, which relieves the pressure.
Your own answer can be wrong, which is why step 3 matters: check it before you rely on it.
It pairs well with recall: close your notes and see whether you can still explain the why. More on active recall.
What we don't claim
- That asking why doubles your memory in general. The 72% against 37% comes from one well-known study with simple sentences, not from a real course. How much it helps you will depend on the material and what you already know.
- That it works for everything. It's for facts that have a reason. For vocabulary or dates, recall works better.
- That it replaces testing yourself. Testing and spacing have stronger evidence. Asking why is a good addition.
FAQ
What is elaborative interrogation?
A study technique where you ask yourself why a fact is true, and answer it in your own words. The name comes from the research; in practice it's just asking "why?" and answering it yourself.
What are some examples of elaborative interrogation?
"Leaves look green. Why? Chlorophyll reflects green light." "Prices rose in 1789. Why? A bad harvest made bread scarce." The fact, the question, and your own answer.
Does elaborative interrogation work for every subject?
It works best for facts with a cause or reason, in subjects where you already know a bit. It's less useful for things that are simply memorized, like vocabulary.
What's the difference between elaborative interrogation and self-explanation?
Elaborative interrogation asks why a single fact is true. Self-explanation asks how a step, or a solution, works and how it connects to what you know. Both were rated moderate utility in the same review.
Keep reading
- Evidence-based study techniques: what works and what doesn't
- How to remember what you read
- Active recall: the study technique most students skip
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Sources
- Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58. doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266
- Pressley, M., McDaniel, M. A., Turnure, J. E., Wood, E., & Ahmad, M. (1987). Generation and precision of elaboration: Effects on intentional and incidental learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 13(2), 291-300. doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.13.2.291
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