Metacognitive control over the distribution of practice: when is spacing preferred?

Full Abstract

The authors clarify the source of a conflict between previous findings related to metacognitive control over the distribution of practice. In a study by L. Son (2004), learners were initially presented pairs of Graduate Record Examination (GRE) vocabulary words and their common synonyms for 1 s, after which they chose to study the pair again immediately (massed practice), later (spaced practice), or not at all (done). Learners chose spaced practice less as pair difficulty increased. A. S. Benjamin and R. D. Bird (2006), using different materials and procedures and a longer presentation duration (5 s), concluded just the opposite. The authors adopted Son's materials and procedures and replicated her findings with a 1-s stimulus duration. However, the declining choice of spacing as item difficulty increased largely reflected learners' failure to fully perceive items with brief presentations. With longer presentations, ensuring full perception, the choice of spaced practice increased with greater pair difficulty, in agreement with Benjamin and Bird. Theoretical implications are discussed in the context of discrepancy-reduction and proximal-learning perspectives. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Author information

Author/s: Toppino, Thomas C (TC); Cohen, Michael S (MS); Davis, Meghan L (ML); Moors, Amy C (AC);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Villanova University, 800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA 19085, USA. thomas.toppino(-atsign-)villanova.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition (J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Sep; vol 35 (issue 5) : pp 1352-8

Dates: Created 2009/08/18; Completed 2009/10/08;

PMID: 19686028, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 10/8/2009, IMS Date: )

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