What is Spaced Retrieval?
Spaced retrieval is a learning technique that involves recalling information at increasing intervals over time.
Spaced retrieval is a learning technique that involves recalling information at increasing intervals over time. This approach is highly effective for long-term retention and is based on the psychological spacing effect, which states that people remember information more effectively when it is reviewed over spaced intervals rather than in a single session.
Spaced Retrieval Practice vs Spaced Repetition System
In the literature, spaced retrieval can refer to both Spaced Retrieval Practice (Also referred to as Spaced Retrieval Training) and Spaced Repetition Systems. While both spaced retrieval and spaced repetition involve the practice of reviewing material over time, the key difference lies in the emphasis. Spaced Repetition Systems focuses on the when of review, usually with the help of algorithms to optimize timing. In contrast, spaced retrieval emphasizes the how, urging you to actively recall the information, thereby reinforcing the memory and learning process.
Retrieval practice operates on the principle that cognitive effort enhances learning. Actively recalling information helps solidify memories and make them easier to access later.
Spaced Retrieval in Language Learning
When learning a new language, vocabulary and syntax are essential elements that require frequent repetition for mastery.
Spaced retrieval acts as a powerful tool here, helping to cement the linguistic structures and vocab in your long-term memory, thereby making it easier for you to use them naturally in conversations.
Desirable Difficulties
The notion of "desirable difficulties" refers to the idea that learning should be challenging but doable.
Spaced retrieval naturally presents such difficulties as you have to recall information at various intervals, requiring cognitive effort, which ultimately strengthens your memory and understanding.
Key Pillars of Spaced Retrieval Training
Spaced Retrieval Practice is like the gym workout for your brain. Instead of passively reading or re-reading information, you test yourself on it—again and again. This is basically your brain saying, "Oh, you actually wanna remember this? Cool, let me make that easier for you next time."
It's not just about regurgitating facts; you can also organize them or apply them to real-world scenarios. The harder your brain works during these tests, the more it's likely to remember later. The magic happens because testing yourself strengthens the "mental links" to the stuff you want to remember and filters out the noise. So, in essence, testing is not just a check on your learning; it's the fast-lane to actually getting that knowledge to stick.
Just like going to the gym, you need to go the right amount. Going 5 times a day is clearly too much, 5 times a year clearly too little. And when you're at the gym, there's a desired difficulty. You don't want to hurt yourself, or leave the gym feeling miserable, but at the same time going to the gym and cruling a 10 gram pink dumbbell probably isn't going to get you that beach body you want. While we're talking about curling – you also need to mix up your exercises at the gym, because no amount of curls is going to get you that six pack.
The main key pillars of an effective Spaced Retrieval Practice aren't so different from our gym analogy, and can be broken down into the following as described and illustrated in a youtube video by Benjamin Keep a Stanford researcher on learning and memory as he gives an example of desirable difficulties and how this techniques works:
Spacing
It is when you space your practice sessions out.
Interleaving
Is when you mixed up problem types that you are working on or category types that you are working on
Contextual Variation
It is where you see ideas in different contexts and are forced to apply them in different contexts or vary the situations that you're practicing something in.
Testing
Testing is just what it sounds like - testing your knowledge. Any way, shape, or form will do, but Keep strongly recommends Free Recall.
Unfortunately, no awesome lego demonstration of testing was provided by Keep. To read more on Free Recall, check out his blog post here.
How to Implement a Spaced Retrieval Practice
Incorporating the principles of spaced practice could significantly benefit language learning platforms by implementing an evidence-based approach. According to Benjamin Keep, a cognitive scientist specializing in learning and instruction, the concept of "spaced practice" suggests that learning sessions should be distributed over time to maximize long-term retention.
However, it is essential that the student still recognizes the material for spaced practice to be effective. Notably, the underlying mechanisms of spaced practice involve complex elements such as deeper processing of learning materials, physical cellular changes, and the crucial role of sleep in consolidating memories.
The broad applicability of spaced practice has been demonstrated in various fields such as classroom learning and surgical training. The challenge lies in adapting our current educational structures, like semesters and finals, which do not align with the principles of spaced practice. Therefore, in order to effectively implement spaced practice, a fundamental shift in these structures may be required.
How To Target your Desired Difficulty
Choose the level of complexity that's challenging but achievable. You don't want it too easy or too hard. In the literature, this is referred to as 'desired difficulty'.
The main point to consider to target desired difficulty is the concept of cognitive load. Adjusting the volume and complexity of new information to a learner's prior knowledge could allow for tweaking difficulty levels. The idea is not to overload the student but rather to provide just the right amount of challenge to inspire learning while avoiding frustration. Underloading the student will result in lazier reviews, where you can get away with succeeding at the review session without creating any real memory.
Spacing Practice
Plan your sessions, starting from short intervals and increasing them as you get more comfortable.
Keep's article articulates the concept of "spaced practice," a learning method that espouses distributing studying over a span of time to reinforce long-term retention. This system is contrasted with 'massed practice,' a more conventional and less effective approach that involves cramming learning into a short period.
The underlying mechanism of spaced practice, according to Keep, involves in-depth material processing, physical adaptations on a cellular level, and the pivotal role of sleep in memory consolidation. Spaced practice's wide applicability is proven by research across diverse fields, from academic learning to surgical training. However, incorporating spaced practice poses challenges due to the current educational structures, such as semester-based curriculums and finals schedules, that largely contradict its principles.
This emphasizes a need for a shift in the system to effectively implement spaced practice. In Keep's words, "**distribute your learning sessions over time to maximize long-term learning" but bear in mind that "if students don’t recognize the material, then the advantage of spaced practice disappears".
What is Interleaved Practice?
Interleaved practice is a learning technique which involves mixing or alternating between different topics or types of questions as opposed to focusing on just one (known as blocked practice).
In his Youtube video, Keep highlights the significance of an innovative approach to learning, known as interleaved practice. Interleaved practice, as he explains, "is a way of re-arranging the activities of a practice session to promote enduring, flexible learning," thereby standing as a stronger alternative to the traditional 'blocked practice'.
A key advantage of interleaved practice is its simplicity in implementation which, can be as uncomplicated as "changing the order of homework problems to match an interleaved schedule." It offers extensive benefits such as enhancing long-term retention and assisting learners in distinguishing between similar concepts.
However, it's necessary to understand that not all task interleaving is beneficial. For instance, merging disparate subjects like physics and language learning could potentially lead to task-switching costs, thereby hampering the learning process.
How To Implement Contextual Variation?
Practice the vocabulary or syntax in multiple contexts to strengthen retention.
Contextual variation can be applied effectively to spaced retrieval practice. The first step is to use diverse sources of learning material, such as textbooks, videos, and online articles, which allows for the same information to be interpreted in various forms. Practical application of the learned material, like vocabulary or syntax, in different contexts during practice sessions is beneficial. Incorporating personal elements or using the learning material in an ongoing personal project can create a personalized context, leading to better retention.
This concept of varying contexts also extends to mental states; revisiting material in different states helps in better recall. The application of learned words or syntax in real-world scenarios may provide the ultimate test and reinforcement of learning. Consistent application of this practice, combined with spaced retrieval, can embed knowledge more deeply and facilitate easier recall. This approach can lead to more effective and efficient learning.
Testing
Frequent self-testing can help gauge your progress and adjust your learning strategies as needed.
"Testing is a key part of any successful learning strategy, and as Benjamin Keep noted, the dialogue with memory is a critical part of this process. It might seem quite straightforward, quoting
"If you want to get better at taking a test, one of the best ways is... to practice taking the test."
Similarly, if your aim is to recall certain pieces of information, then you should practice recalling information on a consistent basis. This means incessantly testing yourself on the concepts and skills you're trying to absorb—a practice that can help you measure your progress and adjust your learning strategies as needed. By repeatedly engaging with the material in this way, you can ensure that you're truly internalizing your studies, rather than just skimming through the surface."
Best Spaced Retrieval Application for Language Learning
Retrieval Practice: Spacing and Interleaving with Phrasing
Phrasing, a cutting-edge language learning application, has built-in features that allow you to implement spaced retrieval in the most effective way. It provides a balanced mix of spacing and interleaving practices that adapt to your personal learning curve.
Spacing with Phrasing
Phrasing has a customized best in class Spaced Repetition System that combines practice between all different mediums and formats into a single prediction engine. It goes beyond the robot approach, treating your memory like a static series of 1s and 0x, but focuses on the human element, to keep you engaged and offer many different ways to review at any time.
Interleaving with Phrasing
Phrasing allows you to interleave both your languages and review types. Whether you're studying multiple languages, or want to practice different skills, we allow combination sessions to ensure you're getting appropriate interleaving in your review sessions.
Interested in block based interleaving? Reach out and let us know - it's a planned feature at the moment, but if we receive enough interest we can prioritize it!
Contextual Variation with Phrasing
Phrasing analyzes every sentence, phrase, word, and morpheme to understand what you're really learning. You'll start learning vocabulary in the same context, but as your knowledge of that vocabulary grows, Phrasing will start to introduce other instances of this vocabulary to mix up your context.
This will not only keep you engaged, but increase your long term retention.
Testing with Phrasing
The app includes various forms of testing to ensure that you can not only recall the vocabulary but also use it correctly and effectively in sentences, thereby proving the efficacy of spaced retrieval in language learning.
By integrating the principles of spaced retrieval, Phrasing sets itself apart as a top-tier tool for anyone serious about mastering a new language.
Conclusion
Spaced retrieval is a proven and effective learning strategy, especially beneficial for language learning. With its focus on synthesis, reorganization, comparison, application, and varied contexts, it paves the way for richer comprehension and long-term retention. By targeting your desired difficulty, planning your spacing, utilizing interleaved practice, adding contextual variation, and continually testing, you ensure a holistic and effective learning experience. Applications like Phrasing apply these principles intuitively, making language learning an engaging and fulfilling journey.
Ready to revolutionize your language learning journey? Start implementing spaced retrieval today! And don't forget to explore how Phrasing can assist you in mastering your chosen language effectively and enjoyably. Here's to a more knowledgeable and linguistically adept you!