A Crash Course in Cognitive Psychology
We've all been there, taking an exam that you studied really hard for, and blank. The information you studied is nowhere to be found. It happens to the best of us.
In my cognitive psychology lab, we are discussing memory. Memory obviously has a lot to so with studying, so here's a crash course on the spacing effect.
The spacing effect refers to the amount of time between repetitions of information (study sessions). The spacing effect is most useful when you engage in distributed repetition over massed repetition (more time between each study session vs. all information all at once).
When studying flashcards, for example, the first pass of your cards is going to be the one where you pay the most attention, and every pass after that, your attention decreases. By your third or fourth pass of the flashcards, you go into automatic mode where your attention span is spent and you're no longer processing your information. Studying like this would be an example of massed repetition.
When studying using massed repetition, you are seeing all of your flashcards multiple times, but since the information was crammed in, it makes it harder for your brain to distinguish between all of the information you just studied.
Using distributed repetition helps your brain to distinguish between all of your material. so instead of cramming your Quizlet flash cards the night before an exam, study them once or twice a day at least few days before the exam.
This was very interesting! I think it is so neat when people write about their majors, as there is a wide variety in this class. I am a big quizlet fan myself, and find it very sensible that this is the way flashcards work, in relation to memory. As much as I enjoy the flashcards (and this is easier said than done) it is much more helpful to avoid cramming. I also find this helpful when memorizing lines for theatre.
ReplyDeleteAs a professional procrastinator and crammer this was hard to hear. However, I can see how our brains comprehend better when using distributed repetition as opposed to massed repetition. I'll definitely be making an effort to dial down the cramming and implement your suggested method in the future. This was so interesting to learn about!
ReplyDelete