Project Activities
The research team completed a series of experiments examining the spacing effect in situations with longer retention intervals that more closely approximate school-based situations. They also completed a series of experiments examining the effects of overlearning and feedback.
Key outcomes
The key outcomes from this project include:
- The team published a substantive review of the past 100 years of work on spacing effects in the laboratory (Cepeda et al., 2006).
- The team found that performance on the final test is improved substantially when students study the material over a spacing interval approximately 10–20% of how long they need to remember the material for. So, students trying to learn material during a semester should study the same material twice separated by a period of at least a few weeks (Cepeda et al., 2005).
- The team found that overlearning does have a positive effect, but the impact on retention diminishes over time. (Rohrer et al., 2005; Rohrer and Taylor, 2006).
- The team affirmed that feedback is necessary for students to learn the information. (Pashler et al., 2005).
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Publications:
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
Select Publications:
Optimizing Distributed Practice: Theoretical Analysis and Practical ImplicationsExperimental Psychology, 56
Cepeda, N., Vul, E., Rohrer, D., Wixted, J., and Pashler, H. (2008). Spacing Effects in Learning: A Temporal Ridgeline of Optimal Retention. Psychological Science, 19 : 1095-1102.
Cepeda, N.J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J.T., and Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed Practice in Verbal Recall Tasks: A Review and Quantitative Synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132 (2): 354-380.
Kang, S.H.K., Pashler, H., Cepeda, N.J., Rohrer, D., Carpenter, S.K., and Mozer, M.C. (2011). Does Incorrect Guessing Impair Fact Learning?. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103 (1): 48-59.
Kang, S.K., McDaniel, M.A., and Pashler, H. (2011). Effects of Testing on Learning of Functions. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 18 (5): 998-1005.
Mozer, M.C., Pashler, H., and Homaei, H. (2008). Optimal Predictions in Everyday Cognition: The Wisdom of Individuals or Crowds?. Cognitive Science, 32 (7): 1133-1147.
Pashler, H., Cepeda, N.J., Wixted, J.T., and Rohrer, D. (2005). When Does Feedback Facilitate Learning of Words?. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31 (1): 3-8.
Pashler, H., Zarow, G., and Triplett, B. (2003). Is Temporal Spacing of Tests Helpful Even When it Inflates Error Rates?. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 29 (6): 1051-1057.
Rohrer, D. (2009). The Effects of Spacing and Mixing Practice Problems. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 40 (1): 4-17.
Rohrer, D., and Taylor, K. (2006). The Effects of Overlearning and Distributed Practice on the Retention of Mathematics Knowledge. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20 (9): 1209-1224.
Rohrer, D., Taylor, K., Pashler, H., Wixted, J.T., and Cepeda, N.J. (2005). The Effect of Overlearning on Long-Term Retention. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 19 (3): 361-374.
Vul, E., and Pashler, H. (2007). Incubation Benefits Only After People Have Been Misdirected. Memory and Cognition, 35 (4): 701-710.
Vul, E., and Pashler, H. (2008). Measuring the Crowd Within: Probabilistic Representations Within Individuals. Psychological Science, 19 (7): 645-647.
Vul, E., Harris, C., Winkielman, P., and Pashler, H. (2009). Puzzlingly High Correlations in fMRI Studies of Emotion, Personality, and Social Cognition. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4 (3): 274-290.
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Questions about this project?
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