University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA.
Mem Cognit. 2019 May;47(4):779-791. doi: 10.3758/s13421-019-00892-x.
Theories of memory must account for memory performance during both the acquisition (i.e., ongoing learning) and retention (i.e., following disuse) stages of training. One factor affecting both stages is whether repeated encounters with a set of material occur with no delay between blocks (massed) or alternating with another intervening task (spaced). Whereas the retention advantage for spaced over massed practice is well accounted for by some current theories of memory, theories of decay or general interference predict massed, rather than spaced, advantages during acquisition. In a series of 3 experiments, we show that the effects of spacing on acquisition depend on the relationship between primary and delay tasks. Specifically, massed acquisition advantages occur only in the presence of code-specific interference (the engagement in two alternating tasks both emphasizing the same processing code, such as verbal or spatial processing codes; e.g., learning letter-number pairs and reading text), whereas spaced acquisition advantages are observed only when code-specific interference is absent. These results present a challenge for major theories of memory. Furthermore, we argue that code-specific interference is important for researchers of the spacing and interleaving effects to take into consideration, as the relationship between the alternating tasks used has a substantial impact on acquisition performance.
理论必须解释在获取（即持续学习）和保留（即停止使用后）阶段的记忆表现。影响这两个阶段的一个因素是，一组材料的重复遇到是否在块之间没有延迟（集中）或与另一个干预任务交替（间隔）。虽然一些当前的记忆理论很好地解释了间隔练习相对于集中练习的保留优势，但衰退或一般干扰理论预测在获取阶段集中练习而不是间隔练习会有优势。在一系列 3 项实验中，我们表明，间隔对获取的影响取决于主要任务和延迟任务之间的关系。具体来说，只有在存在特定代码干扰的情况下（从事两个交替任务都强调相同的处理代码，例如言语或空间处理代码；例如，学习字母-数字对和阅读文本），集中获取才会有优势，而只有在不存在特定代码干扰的情况下，间隔获取才会有优势。这些结果对主要的记忆理论提出了挑战。此外，我们认为特定代码干扰对于研究间隔和交错效果的研究人员来说很重要，因为交替任务之间的关系对获取性能有重大影响。
