Putting the testing effect to the test in the wild: Retrieval enhances real-world memories and promotes their semantic integration while preserving episodic integrity

Retrieval practice—actively recalling information—is an established memory-strengthening technique. However, understanding how retrieval transforms memory requires examining its effects on memories that evolve across multiple episodic and semantic dimensions, as is typical of real-world events. Thus, we investigated how repeatedly retrieving event details without feedback versus restudying the same details influenced memory for an episodically rich and meaningful staged event after 14 days (n = 26 per group). Retrieval enhanced retention of successfully-reviewed content, providing the first testing effect demonstration for real-world events. Retrieval also increased the incorporation of pre-existing semantic information into recall narratives, suggesting enhanced event integration with pre-existing knowledge, perhaps via co-activation of semantically-related content during retrieval. However, this semantic integration did not enhance—or impair—broader episodic memory beyond successfully-reviewed content. These findings suggest that retrieval reshapes memories by integrating recalled content into semantic knowledge networks—a mechanism that may underlie the testing effect—while preserving the overall integrity of episodic representations.