Psychology News
Researchers at Iowa State University revealed how learning how to learn can slow down forgetfulness. The study is published in the journal Nature Reviews Psychology.
The Study
The research team conducted a series of studies to determine whether the spacing and retrieval method of learning can benefit students in retaining information.
For instance, in one of the studies, the performance of two groups of medical students was surveyed—the first received repeated surgery training over three weeks and the second had the same training all in one day.
In another study, students were asked to share and discuss whatever they could remember about certain class lessons in a type of open-ended, communal activity.
The Findings
The results revealed that the spacing and retrieval method of learning can help students when they sit for tests or when they pick up a new hobby. Forgetting is natural and revisiting the information after forgetting some of it (and not all) can help people retain information while learning a new hobby or an academic lesson.
One of the lead researchers, Shana Carpenter, elaborated: “Forgetting is a very natural thing; you can’t stop forgetting even if you try, but you can slow down forgetting by using retrieval practice and spacing.”
To Know More You May Refer To
Carpenter, S.K., Pan, S.C. & Butler, A.C. The science of effective learning with spacing and retrieval practice. Nat Rev Psychol 1, 496–511 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-022-00089-1