Scheduled for Poster Session: The Study and Assessment of Activity and Performance Across Disciplines, Friday, April 11, 2008, 8:45 AM - 10:15 AM, Convention Center: Exhibit Hall, Reseach Consortium Poster Sessions


Effects of Practice Distribution When Time Is a Limiting Factor

Brian H. Jackson, Pacific University, Forest Grove, OR and Emily A. Clair, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN

A number of studies have shown distributed practice to be more beneficial than massed practice in the acquisition of motor skills. However, the majority of these studies have kept the number of practice trials constant between conditions (e.g., Ammons, 1950; Baddeley & Longman, 1978; Mackay, Morgan, Datta, Chang, & Darzi, 2002), resulting in a greater amount of total acquisition time for those utilizing distributed practice. What if the total time to acquire a motor skill was limited (e.g., 1-hour therapy session, 45-minute PE class)? Would distribute practice be more effective within a limited amount of time? Purpose: The purpose of the current study is to determine whether massed or distributed practice is more beneficial when acquisition time is limited. Methods: Twenty-five college-aged men and women were recruited to participate. On day one, participants practiced the Braille alphabet for a total of 60-minutes under their assigned practice conditions of massed (60 minutes of practice, 0 minutes of rest), distributed (repetition of 5-minutes of practice, 5-minutes of rest, 30 total minutes of practice), or intermediate practice (repetition of 8-minutes of practice and 2-minutes of rest, 48 total minutes of practice). Participants were tested for accuracy and speed of recognition in short and long-term retention tests. In addition, a transfer test was perform, which consisted of writing and reading words in Braille. Results: There were no significant differences between distribution condition on performance accuracy. However, the distributed group was found to require significantly more time to recall the information than the massed or intermediate groups. Conclusion: Although distribution of practice may not have had an effect on the accuracy of recalled information, results suggest that massed practice results in faster recall of the acquired information. Unfortunately, it cannot be determined whether these results are due to the distribution of practice or amount of practice. What is certain is that the benefits of distributed practice are not strong enough to outweigh the loss of practice when total acquisition time is limited.
Keyword(s): curriculum, measurement/evaluation, motor skills

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