research on "give the test first" #1

For your [citation needed] on research on the strategy of giving students a test first, before they've even learned a topic, and how that counterintuitively results in improved learning -- take a look at...

"How We Learn" by Benedict Carey, chapter 5 on "the hidden value of ignorance";

Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning: Brown, Peter C., Roediger III, Henry L., McDaniel, Mark A.: 4708364242277: Amazon.com: Books -- not sure if they specifically address this, but worth looking through. Their "desirable difficulties" is very adjacent to this idea.

check out the Bjork Learning and Forgetting Lab.