Research has established that the benefit of retrieval practice (i.e., the testing effect) generalizes across different populations of learners. However, not every learner benefits from retrieval practice to the same extent or even at all. This paper will present a scoping review of research on individual differences within the testing effect paradigm, and then provide an empirical study that explores whether individual differences in need for cognition and structure building influence the magnitude of the testing effect for simple and complex materials. Surprisingly, the scoping review showed that most studies have found no significant relationship between the individual difference construct(s) of interest and the magnitude of the testing effect, but the methodology employed often departed from best practices. The empirical study demonstrated that theory-driven, methodologically-sound research on individual differences can identify psychological constructs that influence the benefit of retrieval practice, but such research requires the development of nuanced hypotheses.

Socioeconomic status (SES) has been shown to be associated with cognitive abilities and academic achievement. Using data from the ABCD Study (N = 10,404), we investigated these variables in early adolescents. We employed a three-factor model of cognitive abilities—verbal ability (VA), working memory (WM), and executive function (EF)—to analyze separate domains of cognition. Significant and large SES-related disparities in cognitive performance were observed across all three domains. VA showed the largest disparity, with an effect size of d=2.01 between low and high SES groups. Further, path analysis revealed that all three constructs were partial mediators in the relationship between SES and academic achievement. However, the strongest mediator was VA, followed by WM and EF. These findings highlight the importance of interventions that aim to improve VA in low-SES populations to reduce SES-related achievement gaps.

The big five personality factors (Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, Extraversion, and Agreeableness) have been found to predict self-report and performance-based prospective memory. To extend our understanding of personality and prospective memory relationships, this study investigated whether dimensions of an alternate personality model, the HEXACO (Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, eXtraversion, Agreeableness versus Anger, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience) predicted prospective memory. The 529 adult participants completed the Prospective Memory Concerns Questionnaire, HEXACO-100, and a novel event-based prospective memory task. Self-reported prospective memory concerns were predicted by lower age, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness, as well as higher Emotionality. Higher performance on the event based prospective memory task was predicted by younger age as well as lower scores on Honesty-Humility and Agreeableness (versus Anger). These findings highlight the different ways in which personality shapes self-report and performance-based prospective memory. Implications relating to factoring personality into assessment of prospective memory, and personality-tailored interventions will be discussed.