Construct · 2 names · 2 citations

Where does spacing effect collide?

Different names. Different fields. One construct. One map.

● jangle · one construct, many names Nearest construct by meaning·not indexed
spacingeffect2 NAMESSpacing effectDEMPSTER · 1988Distributed practiceCEPEDA ET AL. · 2006

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1988Spacing effect2006Distributed practice
2026

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Memory research

Spread-out study beats the same time crammed

In memory research the spacing effect names the robust finding that learning episodes separated in time produce better long-term retention than the same number of episodes massed together. Dempster's 1988 The spacing effect treated it as one of psychology's most dependable results and lamented how little it had reached practice. The referent is the retention advantage of spaced over massed repetition, measured by delayed recall as a function of the gap between repetitions, and it is the identical construct that applied and educational writers relabel as distributed practice or spaced repetition.[1]

Unit
The retention gain from spacing repetitions versus massing them
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Measured by delayed recall or recognition as a function of the interval between successive study repetitions

Instructional psychology

Study sessions work better when spread apart

In instructional and applied psychology the same phenomenon is usually called distributed practice (or spaced practice), contrasted with massed practice or cramming, and it underwrites spaced-repetition study schedules. Cepeda and colleagues' 2006 Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks synthesised decades of studies and quantified how the optimal gap between sessions scales with how long learning must last. It is the same latent construct the basic literature calls the spacing effect, just named for the practice schedule rather than the phenomenon, and measured by retention as a function of inter-session spacing, a jangle of labels, not two different effects.[2]

Unit
The effect of inter-session spacing on how much is retained
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Quantified by retention at a fixed delay across different spacings between practice sessions, including optimal-gap analyses

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Nearby collisions

retrieval practice2 names · 2 citationsjangle · one construct, many namesrepetition3 fields · 6 citationsjingle · one word, three constructsconstruct6 fields · 7 citationsjingle · one name, six constructs

References

  1. Dempster, F. N. (1988). The spacing effect: A case study in the failure to apply the results of psychological research. American Psychologist, 43(8), 627–634. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.43.8.627
  2. Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.354

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