Improving Memory Retention via Spacing of Practice: Computational and Empirical Investigations

当一个人为了考试而临时抱佛脚时，他们经常有这样的经历：考试结束后不久就忘记了材料。 为了支持这一经验，记忆研究人员在100多年前就已经知道，当学习课程随着时间的推移而间隔开时，而不是集中在一个令人筋疲力尽的临时抱佛脚的课程中时，学习材料的长期保留可以大大增强。 尽管这种间隔效应的鲁棒性和重要性，目前还没有广泛接受的解释，它在记忆理论方面，和广度的影响，在不同种类的学习材料还没有得到彻底的调查。Pashler博士和Mozer博士正在进行一系列的记忆实验，以检查相互之间的关系。在各种陈述性记忆任务的上下文中的学习间隔和保持间隔（即，事实学习）以及程序性记忆任务（即，技能学习）。 这些实验的动机是三种不同的记忆理论，它们对表现结果做出了不同的预测。 研究人员正在实施理论的计算模型，以获得它们的定量预测，并探索它们的基本理论原理。 从这个研究项目中获得的知识可以用来改善许多学术领域的学习和教育，包括科学和工程。

When someone 'crams' for a test, they often have the experience of forgetting the material soon after the test is over. In support of this experience, memory researchers have known for over 100 years that the long-term retention of study material can be greatly enhanced when study sessions are spaced out over time, rather than concentrated into one grueling cram session. Despite the robustness and importance of this spacing effect, there is currently no widely accepted explanation for it in terms of memory theories, and the breadth of the effect in terms of different kinds of study material has not been thoroughly investigated.With support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Pashler and Dr. Mozer are conducting a series of memory experiments to examine relations between inter-study intervals and retention intervals in the context of a variety of declarative memory tasks (i.e., fact learning) as well as procedural memory tasks (i.e., skill learning). The experiments are motivated by three distinct classes of memory theories that make different predictions regarding the performance outcomes. The investigators are implementing computational models of the theories to derive their quantitative predictions, and to explore their underlying theoretical principles. The knowledge to be gained from this research project may be used to improve learning and education in many academic domains, including science and engineering.