scholarly journals Optimizing song retention through the spacing effect

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel J. Katz ◽  
Momo Ando ◽  
Melody Wiseheart
Keyword(s):  
Retention Interval ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Spacing Effect ◽  
Critical Threshold ◽  
Memory Retention ◽  
Single Session ◽  
Connected Discourse ◽  
Spacing Interval ◽  
Verbatim Recall ◽  
Complex Coordination

AbstractThe spacing effect refers to the improvement in memory retention for materials learned in a series of sessions, as opposed to massing learning in a single session. It has been extensively studied in the domain of verbal learning using word lists. Less evidence is available for connected discourse or tasks requiring the complex coordination of verbal and other domains. In particular, the effect of spacing on the retention of words and music in song has yet to be determined. In this study, university students were taught an unaccompanied two-verse song based on traditional materials to a criterion of 95% correct memory for sung words. Subsequent training sessions were either massed or spaced by two days or one week and tested at a retention interval of three weeks. Performances were evaluated for number of correct and incorrect syllables, number of correctly and incorrectly pitched notes, degree notes were off-pitch, and number of hesitations while singing. The data revealed strong evidence for a spacing effect for song between the massed and spaced conditions at a retention interval of three weeks, and evidence of no difference between the two spaced conditions. These findings suggest that the ongoing cues offered by surface features in the song are strong enough to enable verbatim recall across spaced conditions, as long as the spacing interval reaches a critical threshold.

Retrieval practice promotes long-term retention irrespective of the placement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
alice latimier ◽  
Arnaud Rierget ◽  
Son Thierry Ly ◽  
Franck Ramus
Keyword(s):  
Retention Interval ◽  
Retrieval Practice ◽  
Memory Retention ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Long Term Retention

The current study aimed at comparing the effect of three placements of the re-exposure episodes on memory retention (interpolated-small, interpolated-medium, postponed), depending on whether retrieval practice or re-reading was used, and on retention interval (one week vs one month).

scholarly journals Increasing Retention Without Increasing Study Time

2007 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 183-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doug Rohrer ◽  
Harold Pashler
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Mathematics Learning ◽  
Spacing Effect ◽  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
Study Time ◽  
Single Session ◽  
Fixed Amount ◽  
Use Of Time ◽  
Study Session

Because people forget much of what they learn, students could benefit from learning strategies that yield long-lasting knowledge. Yet surprisingly little is known about how long-term retention is most efficiently achieved. Here we examine how retention is affected by two variables: the duration of a study session and the temporal distribution of study time across multiple sessions. Our results suggest that a single session devoted to the study of some material should continue long enough to ensure that mastery is achieved but that immediate further study of the same material is an inefficient use of time. Our data also show that the benefit of distributing a fixed amount of study time across two study sessions—the spacing effect—depends jointly on the interval between study sessions and the interval between study and test. We discuss the practical implications of both findings, especially in regard to mathematics learning.

Spontaneous Entry into an “Offline” State during Wakefulness: A Mechanism of Memory Consolidation?

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (9) ◽  
pp. 1714-1734
Author(s):  
Erin J. Wamsley ◽  
Theodore Summer
Keyword(s):  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Pupil Diameter ◽  
Spectral Power ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Memory Retention ◽  
Memory Processing ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Sensory Environment ◽  
Response Task

Moments of inattention to our surroundings may be essential to optimal cognitive functioning. Here, we investigated the hypothesis that humans spontaneously switch between two opposing attentional states during wakefulness—one in which we attend to the external environment (an “online” state) and one in which we disengage from the sensory environment to focus our attention internally (an “offline” state). We created a data-driven model of this proposed alternation between “online” and “offline” attentional states in humans, on a seconds-level timescale. Participants ( n = 34) completed a sustained attention to response task while undergoing simultaneous high-density EEG and pupillometry recording and intermittently reporting on their subjective experience. “Online” and “offline” attentional states were initially defined using a cluster analysis applied to multimodal measures of (1) EEG spectral power, (2) pupil diameter, (3) RT, and (4) self-reported subjective experience. We then developed a classifier that labeled trials as belonging to the online or offline cluster with >95% accuracy, without requiring subjective experience data. This allowed us to classify all 5-sec trials in this manner, despite the fact that subjective experience was probed on only a small minority of trials. We report evidence of statistically discriminable “online” and “offline” states matching the hypothesized characteristics. Furthermore, the offline state strongly predicted memory retention for one of two verbal learning tasks encoded immediately prior. Together, these observations suggest that seconds-timescale alternation between online and offline states is a fundamental feature of wakefulness and that this may serve a memory processing function.

Spacing Effect in Free Recall as an Obligatory Phenomenon

1976 ◽  
Vol 38 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1321-1322
Author(s):  
James D. Evans
Keyword(s):  
Free Recall ◽  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Spacing Effect ◽  
Positive Function ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Intentional Learning ◽  
Automatic Processes ◽  
Spacing Interval

Theories of human memory which stress the importance of optional study processes predict that the spacing of repetitions will affect the free recall of twice-presented words only under intentional learning. The present investigation, involving 36 subjects, compared the “spacing effect” obtained with incidental learning to that obtained with intentional learning. That the level of free recall increased as a positive function of the spacing interval under both types of learning upheld hypotheses which attribute the spacing phenomenon to obligatory, or automatic, processes.

Retention of Connected Discourse

1969 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Mills ◽  
Gordon Winocur
Keyword(s):  
Retention Interval ◽  
Associative Strength ◽  
Significant Interaction ◽  
Interaction Terms ◽  
Connected Discourse ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Interaction Term ◽  
Retention Intervals ◽  
Main Effects

6 24-word English sentences were made up, 2 representing each of 3 levels of meaningfulness. Meaningfulness was defined in terms of the Thorndike-Lorge frequency of the words making up the sentences. The sentences were mounted on memory drums and learned by serial anticipation to a criterion of 100% correct responses or to a lower criterion, equivalent across level of meaningfulness. The retention intervals were 20 min. and 24 hr., the former providing a control for post-criterial drop. The measure of retention was the number of items lost during the interval. The main effects for both retention interval and meaningfulness were significant as was the interaction term between level of learning and retention interval. Because there were no significant interaction terms involving meaningfulness, it was concluded that the main effect for meaningfulness was an artifact resulting from differing degrees of associative strength at the end of learning. This conclusion was reinforced by scrutiny of 24-hr. loss scores, corrected for post-criterial drop.

scholarly journals Prospective Memory Performance in Simulated Air Traffic Control

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (8) ◽  
pp. 1249-1264
Author(s):  
Michael David Wilson ◽  
Luke Strickland ◽  
Simon Farrell ◽  
Troy A. W. Visser ◽  
Shayne Loft
Keyword(s):  
Retention Interval ◽  
Prospective Memory ◽  
Traffic Control ◽  
Air Traffic Control ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Air Traffic ◽  
Detection Accuracy ◽  
Memory Retention ◽  
Retention Intervals ◽  
Prospective Memory Performance

Objective To examine the effects of interruptions and retention interval on prospective memory for deferred tasks in simulated air traffic control. Background In many safety-critical environments, operators need to remember to perform a deferred task, which requires prospective memory. Laboratory experiments suggest that extended prospective memory retention intervals, and interruptions in those retention intervals, could impair prospective memory performance. Method Participants managed a simulated air traffic control sector. Participants were sometimes instructed to perform a deferred handoff task, requiring them to deviate from a routine procedure. We manipulated whether an interruption occurred during the prospective memory retention interval or not, the length of the retention interval (37–117 s), and the temporal proximity of the interruption to deferred task encoding and execution. We also measured performance on ongoing tasks. Results Increasing retention intervals (37–117 s) decreased the probability of remembering to perform the deferred task. Costs to ongoing conflict detection accuracy and routine handoff speed were observed when a prospective memory intention had to be maintained. Interruptions did not affect individuals’ speed or accuracy on the deferred task. Conclusion Longer retention intervals increase risk of prospective memory error and of ongoing task performance being impaired by cognitive load; however, prospective memory can be robust to effects of interruptions when the task environment provides cuing and offloading. Application To support operators in performing complex and dynamic tasks, prospective memory demands should be reduced, and the retention interval of deferred tasks should be kept as short as possible.

scholarly journals The visual nonverbal memory trace is fragile when actively maintained, but endures passively for tens of seconds

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-225
Author(s):  
Denis McKeown ◽  
Tom Mercer ◽  
Kinga Bugajska ◽  
Paul Duffy ◽  
Emma Barker
Keyword(s):  
Retention Interval ◽  
Proactive Interference ◽  
Visual Memory ◽  
Memory Trace ◽  
Memory Retention ◽  
Nonverbal Memory ◽  
Active Memory ◽  
Process Memory ◽  
Temporal Persistence ◽  
Target Set

AbstractDespite attempts at active maintenance in the focus of attention, the fragile nature of the visual nonverbal memory trace may be revealed when the retention interval between target memoranda and probed recall on a trial is extended. In contrast, a passively maintained or unattended visual memory trace may be revealed as persisting proactive interference extending across quite extended intervals between trials in a recent probes task. The present study, comprising five experiments, used this task to explore the persistence of such a passive visual memory trace over time. Participants viewed some target visual items (for example, abstract colored patterns) followed by a variable retention interval and a probe item. The task was to report whether the probe matched one of the targets or not. A decaying active memory trace was indicated by poorer performance as the memory retention interval was extended on a trial. However, when the probe was a member of the target set from the preceding trial, task performance was poorer than a comparison novel probe, demonstrating proactive interference. Manipulations of the intertrial interval revealed that the temporal persistence of the passive memory trace of an old target was impressive, and proactive interference was largely resilient to a simple ‘cued forgetting’ manipulation. These data support the proposed two-process memory conception (active–passive memory) contrasting fragile active memory traces decaying over a few seconds with robust passive traces extending to tens of seconds.

scholarly journals Dissociation of long-term verbal memory and fronto-executive impairment in first-episode psychosis

2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. 1799-1808 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. C. Leeson ◽  
T. W. Robbins ◽  
C. Franklin ◽  
M. Harrison ◽  
I. Harrison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
First Episode Psychosis ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Memory Retention ◽  
Learning Impairments ◽  
Episode Psychosis ◽  
The Difference

BackgroundVerbal memory is frequently and severely affected in schizophrenia and has been implicated as a mediator of poor clinical outcome. Whereas encoding deficits are well demonstrated, it is unclear whether retention is impaired. This distinction is important because accelerated forgetting implies impaired consolidation attributable to medial temporal lobe (MTL) dysfunction whereas impaired encoding and retrieval implicates involvement of prefrontal cortex.MethodWe assessed a group of healthy volunteers (n=97) and pre-morbid IQ- and sex-matched first-episode psychosis patients (n=97), the majority of whom developed schizophrenia. We compared performance of verbal learning and recall with measures of visuospatial working memory, planning and attentional set-shifting, and also current IQ.ResultsAll measures of performance, including verbal memory retention, a memory savings score that accounted for learning impairments, were significantly impaired in the schizophrenia group. The difference between groups for delayed recall remained even after the influence of learning and recall was accounted for. Factor analyses showed that, in patients, all variables except verbal memory retention loaded on a single factor, whereas in controls verbal memory and fronto-executive measures were separable.ConclusionsThe results suggest that IQ, executive function and verbal learning deficits in schizophrenia may reflect a common abnormality of information processing in prefrontal cortex rather than specific impairments in different cognitive domains. Verbal memory retention impairments, however, may have a different aetiology.

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