Lecture 14b, Conditions of Practice I (2)

Question 1

Distribution of Practice

Answer 1

how we organize practice - whether it should be massed together or distributed
- the goal is to determine what practice methods will optimize learning
questions to consider:
- how long should each session last?
- how much rest between activities within a session?
- how much (rest) time between sessions?

Question 2

How to optimize the amount of time spent in practice vs rest to best aid learning (massed vs spaced)

Answer 2

massed practice
- practice periods run close together, with little or no rest between periods
- time spent practising is typically higher than rest

distributed (spaced) practice
- practice periods run with longer intervals of rest between periods
- time spent practising is typically the same or less than rest (resting for longer periods than practicing)

Question 3

In performance (acquisition) what is better, massed practice or distributed practice?

Answer 3

as practice becomes more DISTRIBUTED (longer rest) performance improves
- WHY? fatigue
can we infer which practice schedule results in the best learning? - separate temporary effects from practice condition - if you look at learning after rest period their retention is much better

my notes:
- 0 sec is group with most massed practice and 60 sec is group with most distributed practice - there are some costs associated with not having a break (show a cost across trials)
- distributed practice is better than massed practice

Question 4

In learning (retention/transfer) what is better, distributed or massed?

Answer 4

distributed still better than massed practice
- there is some improvement after short period - they never do as well as other groups (groups who had more spaced practice saw more advantages

Question 5

Conclusions from this applied study:

Answer 5

distributing practice is good for learning
BUT there are trade-offs between practice efficiency (total practice duration) and effectiveness
- not as efficient where it can take 12 weeks - effective is where you learn the most (would probably tip it in this favour of more weeks)
- effectiveness should triumph in most scenarios

Question 6

3 hypotheses as to why massed practice might impair learning compared to distribute

Answer 6

1) fatigue hypothesis
- fatigue can impair quality of practice (eg. cause learner to practice incorrect movement patterns)
- if you are practicing under fatigue conditions it is going to impair your practice (if you are tired you will performing incorrect movement patterns)

2) cognitive-effort hypothesis
- trials become repetitious, monotonous or boring; low engagement/concentration/mental effort
- effort is more about mental when talking about deliberate practice

3) memory consolidation hypothesis
- periods of rest are not there to help LTM storage process (neurobiochemical) & can be related to sleep
- periods of rest that are relatively short still seem to have some benefits on memory and retention