In order to understand what spaced practice is, the process of consolidation needs to be addressed first. Consolidation occurs when the brain strengthens memory traces, which involves a lot of time and effort due to the processing of new material. During consolidation, the brain is rehearsing the information while assigning meaning and connecting it to past personal experiences and knowledge the brain has already stored in long-term memory. In sum, consolidation is used to improve long-term memory, meaning the individual retains this information for longer periods of time (Brown, et al., 2014).
Spaced practice occurs when an individual is studying material but repeatedly leaves significant amounts of time between periods of practice. This is linked to consolidation through its ability to force the learner to work harder at remembering what was studied, thus strengthening one’s mastery of the information (Brown, et al., 2014). When studying, students tend to utilize a strategy that is referred to as massed practice; this is when one studies a large amount of information at one time and rarely following up with that material. Students may feel they are making progress in their learning and memorization, but the information is not being encoded into long-term memory effectively. To keep this information in long-term memory, spacing out one’s studying will provide them with more substantial results in the long run. Even students who find themselves to constantly be struggling with learning new material, spaced practice provides better results compared to massed practice; this is why American universities tend to have their classes set on a weekly schedule instead of intensive lectures that are multiple hours long (Hertenstein, 2001).
Students can sometimes utilize the strategy of spaced practice on a smaller scale without realizing it. Using flashcards to study material is a good example of how spacing information out can be helpful. When studying a deck of flashcards, one does not stare at an individual card until it is committed to memory and then never look at it again. The student will generally go through the entire deck, not returning to individual cards until after reviewing the other cards. Applying this on a larger scale of studying is beneficial because one is utilizing this concept more purposefully and embracing desirable difficulties. But how much space should take place between sessions? Overall, it is recommended that one takes enough time so that the studying is not mere repetition of what was previously studied, but not to the point where the practice feels like one is having to completely relearn the material. Generally, this means leaving about a day in between practice sessions (Brown, et al., 2014).