Practice does not always make perfect: How repetitive learning may not be the most beneficial way to retain information

With finals rapidly approaching and many college students finding the amount of time they need to study exceeding the 24 hours in a day, cramming seems to be the only option many students have. While this technique is often used not only during finals week, but through the year it often backfires. Staring at the same material for hours on end and trying to repetitively drill it into memory is not an effective way to retain the information, or retrieve it when it comes to take the exam. During her talk at Loyola, Dr. Barbra Knowlton explained how the concept of interleaved practice helps individuals consolidate memories in a more efficient way compared to blocked learning( Knowlton).

In her research she examined both motor and behavioral learning processes and how they were affected by repetitive/ block and interleaved learning. She found interleaved learning to be more beneficial in comparison to repetitive learning when comparing fMRI scan of various regions of the brain. Individuals that participated in the interleaved condition showed considerable increases in their sensorimotor and prefrontal regions, along with their short-term memory as well ( Knowlton). Those in the interleaved learning condition showed greater neuronal changes compared to the blocked condition. This happens because interleaved learning required individuals to constantly switch their attention on the task or information they are learning, and repetitive leaning does not require learners to do this. In a recent article published by the American Psychological Association, they describe the beneficial effects interleaved learning on retaining information “ Interleaving forces students to notice and process the similarities and differences among the things they’re trying to learn, giving them a better, deeper understanding of the material”(Winerman). Interleaved learning promotes learners to effectively retain different sources of information they are encoding as they continuously switch back and forth , and discourages them from mentally disengaging from  material that is presented in a repetitive order.

References

Knowlton, B. (2011). Brain-behavior correlates of optimizing learning through interleaved practice.  NeuroImage, 1758-1772.

Winerman, L. (2011, November). Study smart. American Psychological Association.org