Day 66 of 150 Memory Difficulty 3/10
Spaced study beats cramming for long-term recall
Quick answer
Spaced study beats cramming for long-term recall. Today's question (Spacing effect) asks about a finding from Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. in 2006. The correct option is Distributing study sessions across multiple days (spacing) — full explanation, primary source, and glossary cross-links below.
Today's question
When studying a fixed amount of material, which schedule typically produces the strongest long-term retention?
Reveal the answer and explanation
Correct: B — Distributing study sessions across multiple days (spacing)
Cepeda et al.'s (2006) meta-analysis of 184 spacing studies found a robust benefit for distributed practice over massed practice across virtually every condition tested. Optimal spacing intervals scale with the retention interval — for material you want to remember a week, study sessions ~1–2 days apart outperform back-to-back sessions; for retention over a month, weekly intervals win. The mechanism likely involves study-phase retrieval: each spaced session forces recall of partially decayed traces, which strengthens them more than rehearsal of fresh ones. The effect is one of the largest and most replicable in the entire memory literature.
About the source
Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380.
Every Cognition Bible question cites a primary source — a paper, book chapter, or monograph that exists, that we can point to on Google Scholar, and whose finding the question accurately summarizes. No fabricated authority strings, no name-drops without paper-level grounding.
More from the Cognition Bible
Done with today's question? Play the FOKIQ Daily — six puzzles across six cognitive domains, free, every day.