The retention interval model

Abstract

The retention interval model was formulated to account for variable performance differences between anticipation and study-test item presentation methods on the basis of differential and equal individual retention intervals, consisting of the intercycle (rest) intervaland intervening study and test events of other items (work intervals). An experiment was conductedunder both methods with massed and spaced practice. The study-test method outperformed the anticipation method significantly with spaced practice, but nonsignificantly with massed practice, in line with the model. Furthermore, numerical predictions from the model satisfactorily accounted for data in spite of three highly restrictive modes of parameter estimations utilized. The present findings suggest that the two item presentation methods:may produce nearly the same acquisitions, but differ mainly in their retention processes attributable to the differential and equal distributions of the retention intervals.