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. 2023 May;76(5):1131-1154.
doi: 10.1177/17470218221113933. Epub 2022 Jul 28.

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

Dillon H Murphy  1 , Robert A Bjork  1 , Elizabeth L Bjork  1
Affiliations

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

Dillon H Murphy et al. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2023 May.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Spacing effect; difficulty; free recall; repetition effect.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Example of (a) a list with each word presented once for 4 s, (b) a list with each word presented twice for 2 s each, and (c) a list with each word presented four times for 1 s each in Experiment 1a.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
The average proportion of words correctly recalled as a function of word difficulty and how a fixed study time was distributed across presentations of a given word in Experiment 1a. Error bars reflect the standard error of the mean.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Conditional-response probability (CRP) functions for forward and backward transitions as a function of lag and study schedule in Experiment 1a. Error bars reflect the standard error of the mean.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Free recall probability as a function of study schedule and serial position in Experiment 1a. Error bars reflect the standard error of the mean.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
The average proportion of words correctly recalled as a function of word difficulty and how a fixed study time was distributed across presentations of a given word in Experiment 1b. Error bars reflect the standard error of the mean.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Conditional-response probability (CRP) functions for forward and backward transitions as a function of lag and study schedule in Experiment 1b. Error bars reflect the standard error of the mean.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Free recall probability as a function of study schedule and serial position in Experiment 1b. Error bars reflect the standard error of the mean.
Figure 8.
Figure 8.
Examples of a list with (a) each word presented four consecutive times for 1 s each, (b) a list with each word presented twice consecutively for 1 s each then again twice consecutively for 1 s each, and (c) a list with each word presented four times for 1 s each (c) in Experiment 2a.
Figure 9.
Figure 9.
The average proportion of words correctly recalled as a function of word difficulty and how a fixed study time was distributed across presentations of a given word in Experiment 2a. Error bars reflect the standard error of the mean.
Figure 10.
Figure 10.
Conditional-response probability (CRP) functions for forward and backward transitions as a function of lag and study schedule in Experiment 2a. Error bars reflect the standard error of the mean.
Figure 11.
Figure 11.
Free recall probability as a function of study schedule and serial position in Experiment 2a. Error bars reflect the standard error of the mean.
Figure 12.
Figure 12.
The average proportion of words correctly recalled as a function of word difficulty and how a fixed study time was distributed across presentations of a given word in Experiment 2b. Error bars reflect the standard error of the mean.
Figure 13.
Figure 13.
Conditional-response probability (CRP) functions for forward and backward transitions as a function of lag and study schedule in Experiment 2b. Error bars reflect the standard error of the mean.
Figure 14.
Figure 14.
Free recall probability as a function of study schedule and serial position in Experiment 2b. Error bars reflect the standard error of the mean.
Figure 15.
Figure 15.
The average proportion of words correctly recalled as a function of word difficulty and how a fixed study time was distributed across presentations of a given word in Experiment 3. Error bars reflect the standard error of the mean.
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