Avoidance of Overlearning Characterizes the Spacing Effect
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2009
Keywords
Spacing, Massing, Overlearning, Retention, Learning
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1080/09541440802425954
Abstract
The spacing of a fixed amount of study time across multiple sessions usually increases subsequent test performance—a finding known as the spacing effect. In the spacing experiment reported here, subjects completed multiple learning trials, and each included a study phase and a test. Once a subject achieved a perfect test, the remaining learning trials within that session comprised what is known as overlearning. The number of these overlearning trials was reduced when learning trials were spaced across multiple sessions rather than massed in a single session. In addition, the degree to which spacing reduced overlearning predicted the size of the spacing effect, which is consistent with the possibility that spacing increases subsequent recall by reducing the occurrence of overlearning. By this account, overlearning is an inefficient use of study time, and the efficacy of spacing depends at least partly on the degree to which it reduces the occurrence of overlearning.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, v. 21, issue 7, p. 1001-1012
Scholar Commons Citation
Rohrer, Doug, "Avoidance of Overlearning Characterizes the Spacing Effect" (2009). Psychology Faculty Publications. 1762.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/psy_facpub/1762
