Practice Spacing

• Massed practice:

  • amount of practice time is greater than amount of rest between trials
  • i.e. short rest periods (long practice sessions, but less frequent)
• Distributed practice:

  • the amount of rest between trials is equal to or greater than the amount of time per trial (short, more frequent sessions)
• Practice Spacing: Massed or Distributed

  • Distributed practice seems best for learning in general and particularly for continuous tasks (e.g. walking)
  • Discrete tasks: massed practice is possibly better (Lee and Genovese, 1988, 1989), but research evidence unclear, possibly task dependent (Schmidt and Lee, 2005)
• Why might distributed practice lead to better learning than massed practice?

  Fatigue Hypothesis:

  • fatigue negatively influences learning for massed practice schedules (Shea et al, 2000)
• Why might distributed practice lead to better learning than massed practice?

  Memory consolidation Hypothesis:

  • neurochemical processes required for storing memories occur over time without additional practice; distributed practice provides better opportunities for these processes (Brashers-Krug et al, 1996, 1997)
• Why might distributed practice lead to better learning than massed practice?

  Cognitive effort Hypothesis:

  • massing practice within a few days may become monotonous leading to reduced cognitive effort (Shea et al, 2000, Dail and Christina, 2004)