3.1 Spacing Flashcards
Spanish vocabulary and permastore
Question: Recall of Spanish vocab. No daily use. No prep for test
Protocol: Just testing
Conditions: 1 group who have studied Spanish at various length in time in their pasts
Measuring: Success rate
Conclusion: Initial decline from 0 - 5. 5 yr to 25 yr are stable (PERMASTORE), eventual decline past 25
Algebra and geometry retention
Question: How do we manage to remember things over the long time? What factors into it?
Protocol: Just testing
Conditions: 1 group, but various range of durations since studies
Measuring: Success rate
Conclusion: What does retention correlate with? -> Best predictor is repeated exposure.
People with 3+ math courses: virtually no loss of algebra knowledge for up to 50 years, even with no further rehearsal after
Grades matter less than number of courses
Same for geometry knowledge
Classic spacing study
Massed is opposite of spaced (cramming)
Question: How does changing exposure and time effect permastore
Protocol: 6 separate study sessions and a final test after 30 days
Conditions: 3 times between successive study sessions (0 days massed, 1 day low spacing, 30 days high spacing)
Measuring: Proportion of correct answers
Conclusion: All 3 groups more accurate as they train (0 days > 1 day > 30 days)
Final (30 days > 1 day > 0 days)
Same course / Two formats
Question: Better for permastore if course in 8 weeks or 6 months (same content, same amount of time, less time between sessions). There is a control exam to rule out discrepancies
Protocol: Train (do course) then test
Conditions: 2 groups. One 8 week, one 6 month
Measuring: Proportion of correct answers
Conclusion: 6 month course better during course and immediately after the course
Optimal study gap
Question: What is the best gap between studying and re-studying? (only 2 study sessions). Study gap is time between study session 1 and 2. Retention interval is time between session 2 and test
Protocol: Train, then test
Conditions: 0 - 100 days for gap, 4 values for RI
Measuring: Proportion of correct answers
Conclusion: With a study gap of 0, the curves are at the lowest point. Then each curve goes up to reach a max, then it goes down again. There is a sweet spot for each RI.
350 = 22 study gap
70 = 10 study gap
35 = 7 study gap
7 = 1 or 2 study gap
10 to 25% ratio between gap and RI is best
Massed is worst
Why does long term retentions seem poor here? How is it consistent with the permastore idea?
What is the main difference?
Only exposed to material twice.
Exponential value of studying
When you learn something with a given study gap, you will remember it for 4 times longer
If you iterate this over multiple sessions, you get exponential improvements
EX: study once, study once more in a week, your RI could be a month
You study again in a month, your RI could be 4 months
etc
Does this exponential value of studying imply it is wrong to study regularly? If taken literally, no. You’re studying before you reach your RI, so it resets
Spacing is related to _____-term retention
long
_______ happens slowly over time and cannot be rushed
learning
What is permastore?
The ability to remember things for a long time
What is the main question of this section?
How long do we remember things?
Hos good is human memory over the long term?
There is a sweet spot for spacing. Is there a sweet spot for interleaving?
Yes. Interleave too much and you may never study certain facts is there’s too much stuff to go through
Explain why the following are both true:
- In practice, interleaving usually implies some spacing
- Spacing your practice does not require interleaving
- Once you see a topic, it’s shuffled back in and some time passes before you review it again
- You can study the same sequence of facts spaced out
If massed practice is worst for long term retention, why is it so common?
People procrastinate and don’t see the long term value of long term retention
