Spaced retrieval practice produces better final retention than massed retrieval even though spacing lowers initial retrieval success, and more absolute spacing enhances long-term retention¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (3 entries) · review r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2017 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? The chapter reports, citing Karpicke and Roediger (2007a, Experiment 3), that a small spacing cut initial recall by about 25% but enhanced retention on final tests 10 min or 2 days later. → Karpicke 2017 q2 i? The chapter reports, citing Karpicke and Bauernschmidt (2011), that massed repeated retrieval produced no benefit relative to dropping items after one recall on a 1-week test. → Karpicke 2017 (2) q2 i? In the same experiment, increasing absolute or total spacing across repeated trials enhanced long-term retention. → Karpicke 2017 (3)

Evidence¶

Karpicke 2017¶

Karpicke, J. D. (2017). Retrieval-Based Learning: A Decade of Progress. Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference, 2nd edition, Volume 2. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.21055-9

q2 · i? · review · r3

The chapter reports a vocabulary experiment without feedback comparing lag 0 and five intervening items: "inserting a small spacing produced a decrease in recall of approximately 25%", yet spaced retrieval enhanced final retention.

"Items were recalled nearly perfectly immediately after presentation, while inserting a small spacing produced a decrease in recall of approximately 25%. However, spaced retrieval enhanced retention on the final tests."

Karpicke 2017 (2)¶

Karpicke, J. D. (2017). Retrieval-Based Learning: A Decade of Progress. Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference, 2nd edition, Volume 2. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.21055-9

q2 · i? · review · r3

The chapter reports a large learn-to-criterion experiment by Karpicke and Bauernschmidt (2011) with a 1-week cued recall test: "Massed repeated retrieval produced no bene fit relative to dropping items after one recall".

"Massed repeated retrieval produced no bene fit relative to dropping items after one recall."

Karpicke 2017 (3)¶

Karpicke, J. D. (2017). Retrieval-Based Learning: A Decade of Progress. Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive Reference, 2nd edition, Volume 2. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.21055-9

q2 · i? · review · r3

In the same Karpicke and Bauernschmidt (2011) experiment, as the chapter reports, "increasing the absolute or total spacing across repeated trials enhanced long-term retention".

"Overall, increasing the absolute or total spacing across repeated trials enhanced long-term retention."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Long-Term Memory — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Spaced Retrieval Improves Retention
• Distributed Practice Improves Retention — related
• Learners Misjudge Spacing Benefits — related
• Initial retrieval conditions that provide less cue support, such as free recall rather than recognition or fewer letter cues, tend to produce better retention despite lower initial success — related
• Repeatedly recalling a text without feedback or rereading produces the best one-week retention, while repeated studying leads on a final test at the end of the session — related
• Repeated retrieval practice alters the rate at which learned items are forgotten, according to learn-to-criterion studies and forgetting-curve analyses the chapter reviews — related
• Retrieval practice improves long-term retention — related
• Structured CAI with spaced practice and spaced review produced better recall and retention than unstructured CAI — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• The GoldList Notebook Method increases long-term retention of L2 idioms compared with a vocabulary lesson alone — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• A math teacher whose students had typically prepared for tests by rereading notes implemented three retrieval-practice strategies after learning that rereading is not effective for long-term retention — related
• Retrieval practice enhances learning across domains and the lifespan in applied educational settings — a broader claim this one bears on
• Spaced retrieval practice (successive relearning) produced multi-year retention of foreign language vocabulary in adults, as reported by the review — related
• Performance on final tests of learning is improved when multiple study sessions are spaced apart in time rather than massed in immediate succession — related
• Spacing enhances learning across various domains and across the lifespan, with emphasis on applied educational settings — a broader claim this one bears on
• Supplemental computer-based spaced repetition activities nearly triple long-term vocabulary retention in EFL students compared with conventional instruction alone — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Total retrieval spacing improved one-week vocabulary recall while relative schedules were not distinguished — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• A review reports that retrieval practice effects grow more robust as initial retrieval success rises, especially above 75%, and separately that giving more retrieval cues yields smaller effects — related
• Spaced recall quizzing improves long-term retention even when immediate feedback is not provided — related
• Relearning-to-criterion designs confound distribution of practice with amount of second-session practice — related
• Spacing out retrieval practice produces better long-term retention than massing it — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Spaced practice produces a robust small-to-medium retention advantage over massed practice for mathematics learning overall (g = 0.26). — related
• Distributed practice outperforms massed practice for long-term learning, with a possible foreign-language exception — a broader claim this one bears on
• Spaced quizzing increases end-of-semester retention of calculus learning objectives relative to massed quizzing — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• End-of-semester recall of course material was better for relearning than for restudying — related