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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 11, 2026

A Within-Subject Experimental Design using an Object Location Task in Rats

A Within-Subject Experimental Design using an Object Location Task in Rats

Published on: May 6, 2021

The spacing effect in immediate and delayed free recall.

Namrata R Godbole¹, Peter F Delaney, Peter P J L Verkoeijen

¹a Department of Psychology , The University of North Carolina at Greensboro , NC , USA.

Memory (Hove, England)

|May 25, 2013

Summary

Spacing repetitions enhance learning, and this spacing effect persists even after a long delay. This finding challenges theories suggesting the spacing effect disappears over time in free recall tasks.

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Published on: January 31, 2017

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Learning Sciences
Memory Research

Background:

The spacing effect, where spaced repetitions improve learning over massed repetitions, is well-established.
However, its persistence at extended retention intervals remains debated, with conflicting theoretical accounts and empirical evidence.
Previous studies on delayed recall are limited by suboptimal designs, hindering definitive conclusions.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the impact of delayed retention intervals on the spacing effect in free recall.
To address contradictory claims regarding the fate of the spacing effect after a delay.
To provide an unbiased conclusion using a rigorously designed study.

Main Methods:

Employed incidental learning to control for encoding strategies.
Utilized a free recall paradigm to assess memory retrieval.
Controlled for recency effects to isolate the impact of spacing and delay.

Main Results:

The spacing effect was found to persist even after a significant delay.
Results indicate that the passage of time leads to similar forgetting for both spaced and massed items.
A dissociation was observed between time-based forgetting and forgetting induced by intentional forgetting or context-change designs.

Conclusions:

The spacing effect endures over extended retention intervals.
Time-based forgetting does not disproportionately affect spaced items compared to massed items.
This challenges theoretical models predicting the disappearance of the spacing effect at longer delays.