Going beyond the spacing effect: Does it matter how time on a task is distributed?

• Published in: Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006) Vol. 76; no. 5; pp. 1131 - 1154
• Main Authors: Murphy, Dillon H, Bjork, Robert A, Bjork, Elizabeth L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01-05-2023; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Humans; Mental Recall; Original; Students; Time Factors; difficulty; repetition effect; free recall; Spacing effect
• ISSN: 1747-0218; 1747-0226
• DOI: 10.1177/17470218221113933

We assessed the effects of removing some constraints that characterise traditional experiments on the effects of spaced, rather than massed, study opportunities. In five experiments—using lists of to-be-remembered words—we examined the effects of how total study time was distributed across multiple repetitions of a given to-be-remembered word. Overall, within a given list, recall profited from study time being distributed (e.g., four 1-s presentations or two 2-s presentations vs one 4-s presentation). Among the implications of these findings is that if students choose to engage in massed studying (by virtue of constraints on their study time or a failure to appreciate the benefits of spaced study sessions), then studying the information twice but for half the time may produce memory benefits in a single study session.