Spacing effect
간격 효과
Also known as: distributed practice
For the same total study time, spreading it over several sessions produces longer lasting memory than one massed block.
Ebbinghaus charted the forgetting curve: memory drops fast right after learning, then flattens. Meeting the material again while the curve is steep lifts it back up.
Cepeda and colleagues pooled many studies and found the same result repeatedly: for equal study time, distributed practice outlasts massed practice.
For young children the practical form is one or two pages a day across several days, rather than ten pages in one weekend sitting.
- How long a gapThere is no single answer, but longer gaps suit a more distant test.
- Pairs withSpaced retrieval is the strongest combination.