Examination of distributed learning on recent and remote memory using in-person and online experimental paradigms

Learning is crucial in everyday life. However, how much information we retain depends on the type and schedule of training. It has been widely acknowledged that spaced learning holds a distinct advantage over massed learning for cognitively healthy adults and should be considered an educational standard, particularly when consolidating long-term memory. Given that many experiments have been required to be conducted online as a result of social distancing regulations during the Covid-19 pandemic, we examined whether the spacing advantage could be replicated in an online setup. Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of spacing across recent (24 hours) and remote (one-month) retention intervals using the Face-Name Pairs task either in-person (Experiment 1) or online (Experiment 2). The results of Experiment 1 suggest that the beneficial memory effects of spaced training are particularly observed with remote memory. The results of Experiment 2 suggest that although participants learn and recall better in an online setup compared to in-person, the spacing effects were not as robust and did not confer any real advantage. These results are discussed in terms of advantages and disadvantages of the two procedures and the implications for online studies.

Spacing, Feedback, and Testing Boost Vocabulary Learning in a Web Application

Information and communication technology (ICT) becomes more prevalent in education but its general efficacy and that of specific learning applications are not fully established yet. One way to further improve learning applications could be to use insights from fundamental memory research. We here assess whether four established learning principles (spacing, corrective feedback, testing, and multimodality) can be translated into an applied ICT context to facilitate vocabulary learning in a self-developed web application. Effects on the amount of newly learned vocabulary were assessed in a mixed factorial design (3×2×2×2) with the independent variables Spacing (between-subjects; one, two, or four sessions), Feedback (within-subjects; with or without), Testing (within-subjects, 70 or 30% retrieval trials), and Multimodality (within-subjects; unimodal or multimodal). Data from 79 participants revealed significant main effects for Spacing [F(2,76) = 8.51, p = 0.0005, ηp2=0.18] and Feedback [F(1,76) = 21.38, p < 0.0001, ηp2=0.22], and a significant interaction between Feedback and Testing [F(1,76) = 14.12, p = 0.0003, ηp2=0.16]. Optimal Spacing and the presence of corrective Feedback in combination with Testing together boost learning by 29% as compared to non-optimal realizations (massed learning, testing with the lack of corrective feedback). Our findings indicate that established learning principles derived from basic memory research can successfully be implemented in web applications to optimize vocabulary learning.

Beyond the Distributed Practice Effect: Is Distributed Learning Also Effective for Learning With Non-repeated Text Materials?

Distributed learning is often recommended as a general learning strategy, but previous research has established its benefits mainly for learning with repeated materials. In two experiments, we investigated distributed learning with complementary text materials. 77 (Experiment 1) and 130 (Experiment 2) seventh graders read two texts, massed vs. distributed, by 1 week (Experiment 1) or 15 min (Experiment 2). Learning outcomes were measured immediately and 1 week later and metacognitive judgments of learning were assessed. In Experiment 1, distributed learning was perceived as more difficult than massed learning. In both experiments, massed learning led to better outcomes immediately after learning but learning outcomes were lower after 1 week. No such decrease occurred for distributed learning, yielding similar outcomes for massed and distributed learning after 1 week. In sum, no benefits of distributed learning vs. massed learning were found, but distributed learning might lower the decrease in learning outcomes over time.

Reward learning and working memory: Effects of massed versus spaced training and post-learning delay period

Neuroscience research has illuminated the mechanisms supporting learning from reward feedback, demonstrating a critical role for the striatum and midbrain dopamine system. However, in humans, short-term working memory that is dependent on frontal and parietal cortices can also play an important role, particularly in commonly used paradigms in which learning is relatively condensed in time. Given the growing use of reward-based learning tasks in translational studies in computational psychiatry, it is important to understand the extent of the influence of working memory and also how core gradual learning mechanisms can be better isolated. In our experiments, we manipulated the spacing between repetitions along with a post-learning delay preceding a test phase. We found that learning was slower for stimuli repeated after a long delay (spaced-trained) compared to those repeated immediately (massed-trained), likely reflecting the remaining contribution of feedback learning mechanisms when working memory is not available. For massed learning, brief interruptions led to drops in subsequent performance, and individual differences in working memory capacity positively correlated with overall performance. Interestingly, when tested after a delay period but not immediately, relative preferences decayed in the massed condition and increased in the spaced condition. Our results provide additional support for a large role of working memory in reward-based learning in temporally condensed designs. We suggest that spacing training within or between sessions is a promising approach to better isolate and understand mechanisms supporting gradual reward-based learning, with particular importance for understanding potential learning dysfunctions in addiction and psychiatric disorders.

Greater neural pattern dissimilarity in retrieval stage of spaced learning is associated with higher meaningfulness and better memory

Spaced learning research aims to find the best learning interval to improve people's learning efficiency. Although it has been studied for many years, people do not know the physiological mechanism behind it clearly. Some neural representation studies have found that under the condition of spaced learning, the representation similarity of two encoding increases, and believe that this conflicts with the classical encoding variability theory. In this experiment, we used a new experimental paradigm and a longer lag to let the Chinese university students to learn English-Chinese word pairs, and we introduced the idea of meaningful learning into the learning stage to improve the traditional keyword method experiment task. Finally, by comparing the difference (spaced learning - one-time learning) vs. difference (massed learning - one-time learning) in the final test (retrieval) stage, we get different results: there is no significant difference in ERP, At the same time, the neural spatial pattern dissimilarity (STPDS) had significant results in the parietal lobe of 400ms and the right frontal lobe of 600ms. However, we believe that there is no direct contradiction between the two experimental evidence. On the contrary, they reflect different aspects of the process of spaced learning. Based on the evidence of different neural representation evidence of encoding and retrieval, this paper presents an idea of reintegrating three classical theories, eliminates the opposition between encoding variability and defective processing, and summarizes and classifies the experimental paradigm of spaced learning.

Spaced learning: A review on the use of spaced learning in language teaching and learning

Time has contributed to most of our daily activities. In the field of understanding how the human brain reacted to specific learning processes, the neuroscientist supports the impact of having multiple learning sessions with the retention of knowledge. Spaced Learning is a product makes out of human's lack of capacity in retaining information and attempts to reduce the forgetting rate. In exploring the condition of how the human mind works and the chances of forgetting, the demonstration of spaced and massed learning in retaining information is recognized in this paper. This paper is aimed to synthesize information on the foundation of Spaced Learning with a focus on language learning, especially to students in academic institutions in Malaysia. This paper used a qualitative design in analyzing documents from articles whereby these articles are synthesized and analyzed using Microsoft excel and the conclusion later on drawn from the analyses. Based on the reviews highlighted in this paper, the practicality of spaced learning is proven in enhancing memory retention in which can contribute to positive performance and can help maximize students' language performance particularly to those who engaged in specific fields of knowledge.

How massed practice improves visual expertise in reading panoramic radiographs in dental students: An eye tracking study

The interpretation of medical images is an error-prone process that may yield severe consequences for patients. In dental medicine panoramic radiography (OPT) is a frequently used diagnostic procedure. OPTs typically contain multiple, diverse anomalies within one image making the diagnostic process very demanding, rendering students’ development of visual expertise a complex task. Radiograph interpretation is typically taught through massed practice; however, it is not known how effective this approach is nor how it changes students’ visual inspection of radiographs. Therefore, this study investigated how massed practice–an instructional method that entails massed learning of one type of material–affects processing of OPTs and the development of diagnostic performance. From 2017 to 2018, 47 dental students in their first clinical semester diagnosed 10 OPTs before and after their regular massed practice training, which is embedded in their curriculum. The OPTs contained between 3 to 26 to-be-identified anomalies. During massed practice they diagnosed 100 dental radiographs without receiving corrective feedback. The authors recorded students’ eye movements and assessed the number of correctly identified and falsely marked low- and high prevalence anomalies before and after massed practice. Massed practice had a positive effect on detecting anomalies especially with low prevalence (p < .001). After massed practice students covered a larger proportion of the OPTs (p < .001), which was positively related to the detection of low-prevalence anomalies (p = .04). Students also focused longer, more frequently, and earlier on low-prevalence anomalies after massed practice (ps < .001). While massed practice improved visual expertise in dental students with limited prior knowledge, there is still substantial room for improvement. The results suggest integrating massed practice with more deliberate practice, where, for example, corrective feedback is provided, and support is adapted to students’ needs.

Spacing, Feedback, and Testing Boost Vocabulary Learning in a Web Application

As information and communication technology (ICT) becomes more prevalent in education its efficacy in general and that of specific learning applications in particular has not been fully established yet. One way to further improve learning applications could be to use insights from fundamental memory research. We here assess whether four established learning principles (spacing, feedback, testing, and multimodality) can be translated into an applied ICT context to facilitate vocabulary learning in a self-developed web application. Effects on the amount of newly learned vocabulary were assessed in a mixed factorial design (3×2×2×2) with the independent variables Spacing (between-subjects; one, two, or four sessions), Feedback (within-subjects; with or without), Testing (within-subjects, 70% or 30% retrieval trials), and Multimodality (within-subjects; unimodal or multimodal). Data from 79 participants was analyzed and revealed significant main effects for Spacing (F[2, 76] = 8.51, p = 0.0005, η^2p = 0.18) and Feedback (F[1, 76] = 21.38, p &lt; 0.001, η^2p= 0.22), and a significant interaction between Feedback and Testing (F[1, 76] = 14.12, p = 0.0003, η^2p = 0.16). Optimal Spacing and the presence of corrective Feedback in combination with Testing together boost learning by 29% as compared to non-optimal realizations (massed learning, testing with lack of corrective feedback). Our findings indicate that established learning principles derived from basic memory research can successfully be implemented in web applications to optimize the acquisition of new vocabulary.

Effects of spacing on contextual vocabulary learning: Spacing facilitates the acquisition of explicit, but not tacit, vocabulary knowledge

Studies examining decontextualized associative vocabulary learning have shown that long spacing between encounters with an item facilitates learning more than short or no spacing, a phenomenon known as distributed practice effect. However, the effect of spacing on learning words in context is less researched and the results, so far, are inconsistent. In this study, we compared the effect of massed and spaced distributions on second language vocabulary learning from reading. Japanese speakers of English encountered 48 novel vocabulary items embedded in informative English sentences, inferred their meanings from contexts, and received feedback in the form of English synonyms and Japanese translation equivalents. To test the hypothesis that the effects of spacing might differentially affect the development of explicit or tacit word knowledge, spacing effects were measured using semantic priming as well as a meaning recall and a meaning–form matching posttest. Results showed an advantage of spaced over massed learning on the meaning recall and meaning–form matching posttests. However, a similar semantic priming effect was observed irrespective of whether an item was encountered in the massed or spaced distribution. These results suggest that the spacing effect holds in contextual word learning for the development of explicit vocabulary knowledge, but massing appears to be as effective as spacing for the acquisition of tacit semantic knowledge.