Spacing effect

The spacing effect is the finding that information is remembered better when study sessions are distributed over time than when the same study is massed into one session.

Retrieval practice: A learning strategy in which recalling information strengthens later memory. Spacing often makes recall effortful, and that effort can strengthen retention.
Spaced repetition: A study method that reviews material at increasing or optimized intervals. It applies the spacing effect by scheduling reviews rather than relying on cramming.
Massed practice: A learning schedule that concentrates practice into a short period with little or no separation. It is the schedule against which spaced study typically produces better delayed retention.
Hermann Ebbinghaus: A German psychologist whose experiments on memory and forgetting helped establish experimental memory research. His studies of repetition and retention helped establish the historical foundations of spacing research.
Retention interval: The time between the end of learning and a later memory test. The best spacing schedule changes with how long learning must be retained.
Desirable difficulty: A learning condition that slows immediate performance but can improve long-term retention. The temporary difficulty of recalling material after a delay can benefit later memory.
Distributed practice: A learning schedule that separates practice sessions over time. It is the broad instructional practice directly built around spacing learning episodes.
Cramming: Intensive study concentrated shortly before an examination or performance. Cramming can improve immediate readiness while often losing to spacing on later recall.
Jost's law: A proposed principle that, among memories of equal strength, older memories benefit more from additional practice. It offered an early account of why repetitions separated in time can be especially useful.
Spacing function: The relationship between the interval separating study repetitions and later retention. Its shape helps identify when extra spacing stops helping or begins to hurt.

Linked from 6 pages