Optimising learning using flashcards: Spacing is more effective than cramming

Applied Cognitive Psychology

Volumn 23, Issue 9, 2009, Pages 1297-1317

  Kornell, Nate ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ACCURACY; ARTICLE; COGNITION; CONTROLLED STUDY; CRAMMING; DECISION MAKING; HUMAN; HUMAN EXPERIMENT; INTERMETHOD COMPARISON; LEARNING; LEARNING ALGORITHM; METHODOLOGY; NORMAL HUMAN; PRIORITY JOURNAL; PROCESS OPTIMIZATION; SPACING; STUDENT ATTITUDE; TEACHING; UNIVERSITY STUDENT;

EID: 70449370175     PISSN: 08884080     EISSN: 10990720     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/acp.1537     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. Appleton-Knapp, S., Bjork, R. A., & Wickens, T. D. (2005). Examining the spacing effect in advertising: Encoding variability, retrieval processes and their interaction. Journal of Consumer Research, 32, 266-276.
2. Baddeley, A. D., & Longman, D. J. A. (1978). The influence of length and frequency of training session on the rate of learning to type. Ergonomics, 21, 627-635.
3. Bahrick, H. P., Barhick, L. E., Bahrick, A. S., & Bahrick, P. E. (1993). Maintenance of foreign language vocabulary and the spacing effect. Psychological Science, 4, 316-321.
4. Benjamin, A. S., & Bird, R. (2006). Metacognitive control of the spacing of study repetitions. Journal of Memory & Language, 55, 126-137.
5. Benjamin, A. S., Bjork, R. A., & Schwartz, B. L. (1998). The mismeasure of memory: When retrieval fluency is misleading as a metamnemonic index. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 127, 55-68.
6. Bjork, R. A. (1994). Memory and metamemory considerations in the training of human beings. In J. Metcalfe, & A. Shimamura (Eds.), Metacognition: Knowing about knowing (pp. 185-205). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
7. Bjork, R. A. (1999). Assessing our own competence: Heuristics and illusions. In D. Gopher, & A. Koriat (Eds.), Attention and performance XVII: Cognitive regulation of performance: Interaction of theory and application (pp. 435-459). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
8. Bjork, R. A., & Allen, T. W. (1970). The spacing effect: Consolidation or differential encoding? Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 9, 567-572.
9. Bjork, R. A., & Bjork, E. L. (1992). A new theory of disuse and an old theory of stimulus fluctuation. In A. Healy, S. Kosslyn, & R. Shiffrin (Eds.), From learning processes to cognitive processes: Essays in honor of William K. Estes (vol. 2 pp. 35-67). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
10. Brinthaupt, T. M., & Shin, C. M. (2001). The relationship of academic cramming to flow experience. College Student Journal, 35, 457-471.
11. Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 354-380.
12. Cuddy, L. J., & Jacoby, L. L. (1982). When forgetting helps memory: An analysis of repetition effects. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 21, 451-467.
13. Dellarosa, D., & Bourne, L. E. (1985). Surface form and the spacing effect. Memory & Cognition, 13, 529-537.
14. Dempster, F. N. (1988). The spacing effect: A case study in the failure to apply the results of psychological research. American Psychologist, 43, 627-634.
15. Dempster, F. N. (1996). Distributing and managing the conditions of encoding and practice. In R. Bjork, & E. Bjork (Eds.), Memory (pp. 317-344). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
16. Dunlosky, J., & Nelson, T. O. (1992). Importance of kind of cue for judgments of learning (JOL) and the delayed-JOL effect. Memory & Cognition, 20, 374-380.
17. Dunlosky, J., & Nelson, T. O. (1994). Does the sensitivity of judgments of learning (JOLs) to the effects of various study activities depend on when the JOLs occur? Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 545-565.
18. Ebbinghaus, H. E. (1964). Memory: A contribution to experimental psychology (Henry A. Ruger & Clara E. Bussenius, Trans.). New York: Dover. (Original work was published in 1885).
19. Estes,W. K. (1955). Statistical theory of distributional phenomena in learning. Psychological Review, 62, 369-377.
20. Finn, B., & Metcalfe, J. (2008). Judgments of learning are influenced by memory for past test. Journal of Memory and Language, 58, 19-34.
21. Glenberg, A. M. (1979). Component-levels theory of the effects of spacing of repetitions on recall and recognition. Memory & Cognition, 7, 95-112.
22. Greene, R. L. (1989). Spacing effects in memory: Evidence for a two-process account. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 15, 371-377.
23. Greene, R. L. (1990). Spacing effects on implicit memory tests. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 16, 1004-1011.
24. Hintzman, D. L. (1974). Theoretical implications of the spacing effect. In R. L. Solso (Ed.), Theories in cognitive psychology: The Loyola symposium (pp. 77-97). Potomac, MD: Erlbaum.
25. Johnston, W. A., & Uhl, C. N. (1976). The contributions of encoding effort and variability to the spacing effect on free recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning & Memory, 2, 153-160.
26. Kelley, C. M., & Lindsay, D. S. (1993). Remembering mistaken for knowing: Ease of retrieval as a basis for confidence in answers to general knowledge questions. Journal of Memory and Language, 32, 1-24.
27. Koriat, A. (1997). Monitoring one's own knowledge during study: A cue-utilization approach to judgments of learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 126, 349-370.
28. Kornell, N., & Bjork, R. A. (2007). The promise and perils of self-regulated study. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14, 219-224.
29. Kornell, N., & Bjork, R. A. (2008a). Learning concepts and categories: Is spacing the 'enemy of induction'? Psychological Science, 19, 585-592.
30. Kornell, N., & Bjork, R. A. (2008b). Optimizing self-regulated study: The benefits-and costs-of dropping flashcards. Memory, 16, 125-136.
31. Kornell, N., & Metcalfe, J. (2006). Study efficacy and the region of proximal learning framework. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 32, 609-622.
32. Krug, D., Davis, B., & Glover, J. A. (1990). Massed versus distributed repeated reading: A case of forgetting helping recall? Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 366-371.
33. Landauer, T. K., & Bjork, R. A. (1978). Optimum rehearsal patterns and name learning. In M. M. Gruneberg, P. E. Morris, & R. N. Sykes (Eds.), Practical aspects of memory (pp. 625-632). London: Academic Press.
34. Magliero, A. (1983). Pupil dilations following pairs of identical and related to-be-remembered words. Memory & Cognition, 11, 609-615.
35. Metcalfe, J., & Kornell, N. (2003). The dynamics of learning and allocation of study time to a region of proximal learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 132, 530-542.
36. Mondria, J. A., & Mondria-De Vries, S. (1994). Efficiently memorizing words with the help of word cards and 'hand computer': Theory and applications. System, 22, 47-57.
37. Nelson, T. O., Dunlosky, J., Graf, A., & Narens, L. (1994). Utilization of metacognitive judgments in the allocation of study during multitrial learning. Psychological Science, 5, 207-213.
38. Nelson, T. O., & Leonesio, R. J. (1988). Allocation of self-paced study time and the 'labor-in-vain effect'. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 14, 676-686.
39. Pyc, M. A., & Rawson, K. A. (2007). Examining the efficiency of schedules of distributed retrieval practice. Memory & Cognition, 35, 1917-1927.
40. Rohrer, D., & Pashler, H. (2007). Increasing retention without increasing study time. Current Directions In Psychological Science, 16, 183-186.
41. Rohrer, D., & Taylor, K. (2006). The effects of overlearning and distributed practice on the retention of mathematics knowledge. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 1209-1224.
42. Rohrer, D., & Taylor, K. (2007). The shuffling of mathematics practice problems improves learning. Instructional Science, 35, 481-498.
43. Salisbury, D. F., & Klein, J. D. (1988). A comparison of a microcomputer progressive state drill and flashcards for learning paired associates. Journal of Computer-Based Instruction, 15, 136-143.
44. Seabrook, R., Brown, G. D. A., & Solity, J. E. (2005). Distributed and massed practice: From laboratory to classroom. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 19, 107-122.
45. Shaughnessy, J. J., Zimmerman, J., & Underwood, B. J. (1972). Further evidence on the MP-DP effect in free-recall learning. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11, 1-12.
46. Simon, D. A., & Bjork, R. A. (2001). Metacognition in motor learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 27, 907-912.
47. Smith, S. M., & Rothkopf, E. Z. (1984). Contextual enrichment and distribution of practice in the classroom. Cognition and Instruction, 1, 341-358.
48. Son, L. K. (2004). Spacing one's study: Evidence for a metacognitive control strategy. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 30, 601-604.
49. Son, L. K., & Kornell, N. (2008). Research on the allocation of study time: Key studies from 1890 to the present (and beyond). In J. Dunlosky, & R. A. Bjork (Eds.), A handbook of memory and metamemory (pp. 333-351). Hillsdale, NJ: Psychology Press.
50. Spellman, B. A., & Bjork, R. A. (1992). Technical commentary: When predictions create reality: Judgments of learning may alter what they are intended to assess. Psychological Science, 3, 315-316.
51. Vacha, E. F., & McBride, M. J. (1993). Cramming: A barrier to student success, a way to beat the system, or an effective learning strategy. College Student Journal, 27, 2-11.
52. Zechmeister, E. B., & Shaughnessy, J. J. (1980). When you know that you know and when you think that you know but you don't. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 15, 41-44.