A Meta-analysis of the Spacing Effect in Verbal Learning: Implications for Research on Advertising Repetition and Consumer Memory

Janiszewski, Chris; Noel, Hayden; Sawyer, Alan G.

doi:10.1086/374692

Cited by 220 publications

(177 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Communication repetition and the spacing of messages have been shown to support memory for advertising (Janiszewski, Noel, & Sawyer, 2003), as has message variation in advertising (Singh, Linville, & Sukhdial, 1995). For brand knowledge acquisition, regular visits to fast-food outlets offer spacing of exposure, repetition and variation as children see venues, packaging, trade characters, and logos, and experience the products.…”

Section: Study 1: Sfs Internal Consistency and Validitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternative thinking about starting points of obesity. Development of child taste preferences

Cornwell

McAlister

2011

Appetite

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A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 2 Food marketers are at the epicenter of criticism for the unfolding obesity epidemic as societies consider banning advertising to children and taxing "junk" foods. While marketing's role in obesity is not well understood, there is clear evidence that children are regularly targeted with calorie-dense, nutrient-poor food. Much of the past research seeks to understand how marketing influences brand preference and child requests. The authors argue that understanding palate development offers new insights for discussion. Two studies consider whether a sugar/fat/salt (SFS) palate is linked to children's knowledge of food brands, experience with products, and advertising. In study 1, the authors develop a survey measure of taste preferences and find that a child's SFS palate (as reported by parents) relates significantly to children's self-reported food choices. Study 2 examines how knowledge of certain branded food and drinks is related to palate. Findings show that children with detailed mental representations of fast-food and soda brands -developed via advertising and experience -have higher scores on the SFS palate scale.Keywords: fast-food, advertising, consumer behavior, public policy, children, preschool, have been proposed. Likewise, the redesign of food offerings in certain environments is under scrutiny, particularly in schools. Often targeted in this discussion are energy dense products high in sugar, fat, and salt and in particular, "fast-food" and soft drinks.How is it that food and drink manufacturers and restaurant chains have come to offer so many products high in sugar, fat, and salt? One possible answer is that it has occurred in the pursuit of taste preference. Competitive market forces continually push companies to offer products that are preferred over others. In a 2004 study conducted for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, a major barrier to food reformulation to meet societal weight management goals was consumer acceptance (Muth, Zorn, & Kosa, 2004). In the study, food manufacturers considered taste to be more important than calorie targets in product formulation and decisions were made with consumer acceptance in mind. In the same study, restaurant chains expressed that low calorie menus are challenging because fats and sugars contribute flavor to food and people want flavorful offerings. This discussion is consistent both with reports of failure of demand for healthy menu items (Grant, 2006) and with the expansion of "extreme" flavored foods (Liem & Mennella, 2003).There appears to be a self-perpetuating cycle of consumer preference for sugar, fat, and salt, and manufacturer supply of foods that contribute to unhealthy eating habits. A Page 4 of 50 A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 4 review of the literature on development of food preference from 1999 found that "the ready availability of energy-dense foods, high in sugar, fat, and salt, provides an eating environment that fosters food preferences incons...

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Section: Study 1: Sfs Internal Consistency and Validitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternative thinking about starting points of obesity. Development of child taste preferences

Cornwell

McAlister

2011

Appetite

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“…This general phenomenon, also known as the distributed learning effect (DL), refers to the finding that memory for items encoded over repeated sessions is better when those sessions are distributed across time rather than massed (ML). While hundreds of studies have now confirmed that DL provides a mnemonic advantage over ML (see Dempster 1988;Janiszewski et al 2003;Cepeda et al 2006 for reviews), the cognitive and neural mechanisms behind this effect remain unclear.In this paper we present evidence supporting a consolidation theory account of DL. Consolidation is a neurobiological process involved in long-term stabilization of mnemonic representations, causing memories to strengthen and become less prone to forgetting and interference over time (e.g., Squire and Alvarez 1998;Dudai 2004;Wixted 2004).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributed learning enhances relational memory consolidation

Litman

Davachi²

2008

Learn. Mem.

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It has long been known that distributed learning (DL) provides a mnemonic advantage over massed learning (ML). However, the underlying mechanisms that drive this robust mnemonic effect remain largely unknown. In two experiments, we show that DL across a 24 hr interval does not enhance immediate memory performance but instead slows the rate of forgetting relative to ML. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this savings in forgetting is specific to relational, but not item, memory. In the context of extant theories and knowledge of memory consolidation, these results suggest that an important mechanism underlying the mnemonic benefit of DL is enhanced memory consolidation. We speculate that synaptic strengthening mechanisms supporting long-term memory consolidation may be differentially mediated by the spacing of memory reactivation. These findings have broad implications for the scientific study of episodic memory consolidation and, more generally, for educational curriculum development and policy.Over 100 years ago Jost put forth what is now known as his first law: "If two memory traces are of equal strength but different ages, the older one will benefit more from an additional learning trial." This general phenomenon, also known as the distributed learning effect (DL), refers to the finding that memory for items encoded over repeated sessions is better when those sessions are distributed across time rather than massed (ML). While hundreds of studies have now confirmed that DL provides a mnemonic advantage over ML (see Dempster 1988;Janiszewski et al. 2003;Cepeda et al. 2006 for reviews), the cognitive and neural mechanisms behind this effect remain unclear.In this paper we present evidence supporting a consolidation theory account of DL. Consolidation is a neurobiological process involved in long-term stabilization of mnemonic representations, causing memories to strengthen and become less prone to forgetting and interference over time (e.g., Squire and Alvarez 1998;Dudai 2004;Wixted 2004). Historically, the field of psychology has been resistant to embracing consolidation as an explanation for DL memory enhancement. For example, in an influential symposium that captured the zeitgeist, Melton (1970) commented that "I find it comforting that no one in the symposium appealed to consolidation as an explanation of the observed distributed practice effects, but all sought instead to find understanding from hypotheses about the informationprocessing activities of the subject."Instead of proposing neural mechanisms, researchers have favored accounts of DL effects in terms of cognitive factors, such as fatigue and encoding variability (Youtz 1941;Melton 1970;Hintzman 1974). Importantly, however, these theories have been derived from a DL literature that has primarily used very short intersession intervals (ISIs) ranging only from seconds to minutes (Underwood 1961;Melton 1970;Hintzman 1974) that are not likely to be affected by consolidation processes. For example, protein synthesis takes place over many hours (Tully et al...

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“…However, what students do during time spent studying also matters. To develop a more nuanced metric, we consider findings from studies of distributed practice, one of the most well-documented findings from laboratory studies of recall; numerous studies show that restudy of material, distributed in time, supports learning (Cepeda, Pashler, Vul, Wixted, & Rohrer, 2006;Delaney, Verkoeijen, & Spirgel, 2010;Donovan & Radosevich, 1999;Janiszewski, Noel, & Sawyer, 2003). In this study, we explore the metric of revisiting -how and what students spontaneously revisit in inquiry science materials -and how it relates to their retention.…”

Section: Rationalementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mario reviews the material for 70 minutes the day before the test. Hundreds of studies (e.g., as reviewed in Cepeda et al, 2006;Delaney et al, 2010;Donovan & Radosevich, 1999;Janiszewski et al, 2003) would predict Diego will do better on the exam because he distributed his study over time. These findings held for repetition and induction tasks (Kornell, Castel, Eich, & Bjork, 2010) and abstraction and generalization tasks (West, 2011).…”

Section: Revisiting As Distributed Practice Supports Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributed Revisiting: an Analytic for Retention of Coherent Science Learning

Svihla¹,

Wester²,

Linn

2015

Learning Analytics

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Designing learning experiences that support the development of coherent understanding of complex scientific phenomena is challenging. We sought to identify analytics that can also guide such designs to support retention of coherent understanding. Based on prior research that distributing study of material over time supports retention, we explored revisiting previously studied material as an analytic. We tested ways to operationalize revisiting: as a general propensity to revisit previously studied material; as a propensity to revisit specific curricular steps; as a general propensity to distribute study by revisiting previously studied material on different days; and as a propensity to distribute study by revisiting specific steps on different days. The specific steps identified as central to the learning design included a static illustration and a dynamic visualization. We modelled revisiting in a sample of 664 students taught by seven different teachers using a Web-based Inquiry Science Environment unit. Analysis of log files and regression modelling revealed that a general propensity to revisit did not predict retention. Revisiting the dynamic visualization better supported retention than revisiting static material, but only for distributed revisiting. Our findings suggest that revisiting can be a useful analytic when aligned with the framework guiding learning design.

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A Meta-analysis of the Spacing Effect in Verbal Learning: Implications for Research on Advertising Repetition and Consumer Memory

Cited by 220 publications

References 32 publications

Alternative thinking about starting points of obesity. Development of child taste preferences

Alternative thinking about starting points of obesity. Development of child taste preferences

Distributed learning enhances relational memory consolidation

Distributed Revisiting: an Analytic for Retention of Coherent Science Learning

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