As someone who sometimes identifies myself as a professional procrastinator, the Spacing Effect was a piece of life-changing information. The Spacing Effect demonstrates that learning is more effective when repeated in spaced-out sessions, meaning that it’s more effective to train/practice/study an activity 1 hour per day 7 times a week than 1 time a week for 7 hours.
Many studies on memory have proven that effect, and it’s due to the fact that forgetting and learning are linked. Their relationship is similar to how muscles are built in our bodies. In order to create muscle, you must keep training the muscle you want to make stronger. The more times and the more intense you train a muscle, your body will reconstruct it to be strong enough for your activity, meaning it will get stronger as you train. That same process can be noticed in retrieving memories, as the more times you remember something. The more your brain realizes that information’s importance, meaning that it will be easier to recall it next time, in other words, the memory connection will be stronger.
This analogy exemplifies why distributed sessions tend to be more effective than mass practice, you will just train your brain to be more ready by practicing multiple times and also giving the time needed for processing the information, just like a muscle needs time for its recovery.
I found that information very useful to use, especially for an activity that you find difficult to get done. I’m passionate about music production, and because I started it not so long ago, I tend to compare my work with the work of people who have already been putting in the work for years. I’ve decided I want to get better at it, so making use of the Spacing Effect will definitely be helpful towards that goal. It makes me understand that things usually take time, and doing a little every day (constancy) will get you further than infrequent massed peaks of work (motivation).
Sources:
Vlach, H. A., & Sandhofer, C. M. (2012). Distributing Learning Over Time: The Spacing Effect in Children’s Acquisition and Generalization of Science Concepts. Child Development, 83(4), 1137-1144. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01781.
I really like your post. I recently tried to use the spacing effect to prepare for my up and coming exams because I have multiple in one week. This topic gave me a lot to think about and I also liked how you made a connection between the spacing effect and working out.