Thanks Dan. This is in line with what I am finding: overlearning by itself seems to only have short term benefits and not long term benefits unless the learning is distributed over multiple sessions of learning to criterion. But once criterion is reached there doesn't seem to be much point in "over" learning, as many study skills websites suggest.
Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---- Original message ---- >Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:21:58 -0800 >From: Don Allen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: [tips] need references >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > > Hi Annette- > > Re overlearning you may want to take a look at > > Doug Rohrer, Harold Pashler (2007) > Increasing Retention Without Increasing Study Time > Current Directions in Psychological Science 16 (4), > 183-186. > doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00500. > > ABSTRACT-Because people forget much of what they > learn, students could benefit from learning > strategies that yield long-lasting knowledge. Yet > surprisingly little is known about how long-term > retention is most efficiently achieved. Here we > examine how retention is affected by two variables: > the duration of a study session and the temporal > distribution of study time across multiple sessions. > Our results suggest that a single session devoted to > the study of some material should continue long > enough to ensure that mastery is achieved but that > immediate further study of the same material is an > inefficient use of time. Our data also show that the > benefit of distributing a fixed amount of study time > across two study sessions-the spacing effect-depends > jointly on the interval between study sessions and > the interval between study and test. We discuss the > practical implications of both findings, especially > in regard to mathematics learning. > > -Don. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > I have tried psychinfo and google for two things with no luck: > > I am looking for evidence to support the advice we often give to students to > use (a) acrostics, (b) acronyms as study aids. I can find very many websites > that offer this advice and how to do it, but none that back up the advice > with an evidence that this really works. I had hoped to find something in the > rehab literature but couldn't pin anything down on psychinfo. > > Next I have been looking for data to back up the often given advice of > overlearning. I have found only one reference that found only a very short > term benefit for overlearning, but no long term benefit. Again, do any of you > have any real evidence for this advice? > > As much as possible I think students need to know why we tell them to do > these things. > > I appreciate any help in this regard. > > Annette > > > Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. > Professor of Psychology > University of San Diego > 5998 Alcala Park > San Diego, CA 92110 > 619-260-4006 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --- > > > -- > Don Allen > Department of Psychology > Langara College > Vancouver, B.C., Canada > V5Y 2Z6 > > 604-323-5871 > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ---
