Massed and distributed practice in puzzle solving.

Cook, Thomas W.

doi:10.1037/h0074350

Cited by 29 publications

(25 citation statements)

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“…Using himself as a subject, Ebbinghaus determined that distributing learning sessions of nonsense syllables with controlled response trials was superior to similar stimuli learned in one session. The superiority of distributing learning and practice over massed learning was replicated by many early researchers (Cook, 1934(Cook, , 1944Jost, 1897;Reed, 1924;Ruch, 1928;Thorndike, 1912).…”

Section: Distributed Practicementioning

confidence: 91%

A comparative analysis of massed vs. distributed practice on basic math fact fluency growth rates

Schutte

Duhon

Solomon

et al. 2015

Journal of School Psychology

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Section: Distributed Practicementioning

confidence: 91%

A comparative analysis of massed vs. distributed practice on basic math fact fluency growth rates

Schutte

Duhon

Solomon

et al. 2015

Journal of School Psychology

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“…While the studies reviewed above suggest that it is worthwhile to space the learning of complex skills, this does not necessarily apply to other task domains. Indeed, a number of older studies assessing puzzle learning using spacing intervals of 1 day failed to find an advantage for spaced practice for learning ( Cook, 1934 ; Garrett, 1940 ; Ericksen, 1942 ). For example, Garrett (1940) compared participants who learned a symbol-digit substitution task, a code-learning task or an artificial language task by spaced practice or massed practice.…”

Section: The Spacing Effect In Skill-related Tasksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spacing Repetitions Over Long Timescales: A Review and a Reconsolidation Explanation

Smith

Scarf

2017

Front. Psychol.

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Recent accounts of the spacing effect have proposed molecular explanations that explain spacing over short, but not long timescales. In the first half of this paper, we review research on the spacing effect that has employed spaces of 24 h or more across skill-related tasks, language-related tasks and generalization for adults and children. Throughout this review, we distinguish between learning and retention by defining learning (or acquisition) as performance at the end of training and retention as performance after a delay period. Using this distinction, we find age- and task-related differences in the manifestation of the spacing effect over long timescales. In the second half of this paper, we discuss a reconsolidation account of the spacing effect. In particular, we review the evidence that suggests the spacing of repetitions influences the subsequent consolidation and reconsolidation processes; we explain how a reconsolidation account may explain the findings for learning; the inverted-U curve for retention; and compare the reconsolidation account with previous consolidation accounts of the spacing effect.

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“…This confound is problematic because spacing usually boosts subsequent test performance—indeed, this spacing effect is one of the most robust effects in the area of learning (for reviews, see, for example, Cepeda, Pashler, Vul, Wixted, & Rohrer, 2006; Dempster, 1987; Bjork, 1994; Donovan & Radosevich, 1999; Rohrer, 2009; for experimental papers, see, for example, Bahrick, H. P., Bahrick, L. E., Bahrick, A. S., & Bahrick, P. E., 1993; Bloom & Shuell, 1981; Cepeda, Vul, Rohrer, Wixted, & Pashler, 2008; Cook, 1934; Kornell & Bjork, 2008; Lee & Genovese, 1988; Mumford et al, 1994; Pyc & Rawson, 2007; Rea & Modigliani, 1985; Rohrer & Taylor, 2006; Seabrook, Brown, & Solity, 2005).…”

Section: A Confoundmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of interleaved practice

Taylor

Rohrer

2009

Applied Cognitive Psychology

229

185

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Previous research shows that interleaving rather than blocking practice of different skills (e.g. abcbcacab instead of aaabbbccc) usually improves subsequent test performance. Yet interleaving, but not blocking, ensures that practice of any particular skill is distributed, or spaced, because any two opportunities to practice the same task are not consecutive. Hence, because spaced practice typically improves test performance, the previously observed test benefits of interleaving may be due to spacing rather than interleaving per se. In the experiment reported herein, children practiced four kinds of mathematics problems in an order that was interleaved or blocked, and the degree of spacing was fixed. The interleaving of practice impaired practice session performance yet doubled scores on a test given one day later. An analysis of the errors suggested that interleaving boosted test scores by improving participants' ability to pair each problem with the appropriate procedure.When practice is interleaved rather than blocked, the practice of different skills is intermixed rather than grouped by type (e.g. abcbcacab instead of aaabbbccc). In most introductory statistics textbooks, for example, the practice problems requiring a particular statistical test (e.g. independent samples t test) are blocked together in a set that typically follows the lesson on that statistical test. With interleaved practice, by contrast, each lesson is followed by a set of practice problems drawn from many previous lessons so that no two problems of the same kind appear consecutively, thereby requiring students to choose the appropriate statistical test on the basis of the problem itself. Several studies have shown that interleaving yields better subsequent test performance than does blocking. In these studies, however, practice in the interleaving condition was distributed or spaced, and, as detailed below, this confound worked in favour of the observed benefits of interleaving. The present study assessed the effects of interleaving while equating the degree of spacing.

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Massed and distributed practice in puzzle solving.

Cited by 29 publications

References 0 publications

A comparative analysis of massed vs. distributed practice on basic math fact fluency growth rates

A comparative analysis of massed vs. distributed practice on basic math fact fluency growth rates

Spacing Repetitions Over Long Timescales: A Review and a Reconsolidation Explanation

The effects of interleaved practice

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