Lecture on Distribution and Amount of Practice

Key Concepts

• Distribution of Practice: The arrangement of practice schedules to enhance learning.
• Massed vs. Distributed Practice:
  • Massed Practice: Fewer, longer sessions with minimal rest.
  • Distributed Practice: The same total practice time spread across more sessions with breaks.

Questions Addressed

1. Is it better to have fewer but longer practice sessions or shorter sessions but more of them?
2. How much rest is needed between practice trials for optimal learning?

Practice Schedules

• Massed Practice Schedule: Fewer sessions, longer duration.
• Distributed Practice Schedule: More sessions, shorter duration with breaks.
• Practice trials vary in rest intervals, influencing continuous practice (massed) vs. longer rest (distributed).

Evidence and Research

• Frequent and shorter sessions generally lead to better learning.
• Study by Badly & Longman (1978): Postal workers learned keyboard skills better under distributed schedules.
  • Distributed practice groups achieved criteria faster and retained skills better compared to massed groups.
• Golf Study (2004): Distributed practice improved novice golfers’ skills more effectively than massed practice.

Explanation of Results

• Fatigue: Massed practice can lead to physical and mental fatigue.
• Cognitive Effort: Diminished in massed practice due to boredom and fatigue.
• Memory Consolidation Hypothesis: Learning needs time without additional practice to consolidate memory effectively.

Practice Effects on Different Skills

• Continuous Skills (e.g., swimming, cycling): Distributed practice shows better results.
• Discrete Skills (e.g., golf shots, kicking): Limited research; some evidence suggests massed practice might be beneficial.

Amount of Practice

• More practice doesn’t always equate to better results due to diminishing returns.
• Overlearning: Practicing beyond performance requirement can have benefits up to a point.

Notable Studies

• Machine Gun Assembly & Disassembly: Overlearning led to better retention and performance. Immediate overtraining was cost-effective and beneficial.
• Dynamic Balance Study (1971): Overlearning improved performance but showed diminishing returns beyond 50% extra practice.

Conclusion

• Distributed practice generally more effective than massed practice.
• Consider the type of skill when choosing practice strategy.
• Overlearning can be beneficial but only to an extent before diminishing returns occur.