Superiority of variable to repeated practice in transfer on anagram solution

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Motor Learning
• Verbal Learning

Background:

• Variable practice in motor learning improves task transfer compared to repeated practice.
• Verbal priming research indicates performance gains correlate with learning-test material overlap.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if variable practice enhances performance in the verbal anagram solution task.
• To determine if motor learning principles of variable practice apply to cognitive tasks.

Main Methods:

• Participants engaged in anagram solving under three conditions: repeated practice of the same anagram, repeated practice of a different anagram, or variable practice of anagram variations.
• Performance was assessed on a subsequent anagram test.

Main Results:

• Variable practice on anagram variations led to significantly improved test performance compared to repeated practice.
• Performance gains were observed even when the test anagram was identical to the one practiced repeatedly.

Conclusions:

• Variable practice can enhance performance in higher-level cognitive tasks, such as anagram solution, aligning with findings in motor learning.
• The results support the hypothesis that varied practice may promote more elaborate processing than repeated practice.