Divided attention: An undesirable difficulty in memory retention.
How can we improve memory retention? A large body of research has suggested that difficulty encountered during learning, such as when practice sessions are distributed rather than massed, can enhance later memory performance (see R. A. Bjork & E. L. Bjork, ). Here, we investigated whether divided at...
| Published in: | Memory & Cognition Vol. 41; no. 7; pp. 978 - 989 |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Springer Nature
Oct2013
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=90290444&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 90290444 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 0090502X MEG jtl: Memory & Cognition issn: 0090502X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Oct2013 vid: 41 iid: 7 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 90290444 10.3758/s13421-013-0326-5 ppf: 978 ppct: 11 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 264KB tig: atl: Divided attention: An undesirable difficulty in memory retention. aug: au: Gaspelin, Nicholas Ruthruff, Eric Pashler, Harold affil: Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, MSC03 2220, Albuquerque 87131-1161 USA Department of Psychology, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla USA su: New Mexico Analysis of variance Attention College students Memory Psycholinguistics Confidence intervals Research funding T-test (Statistics) Descriptive statistics sug: subj: Analysis of variance Attention College students Memory Psycholinguistics New Mexico Confidence intervals Research funding T-test (Statistics) Descriptive statistics keyword: Desirable difficulties Divided attention Desirable difficulties Divided attention ab: How can we improve memory retention? A large body of research has suggested that difficulty encountered during learning, such as when practice sessions are distributed rather than massed, can enhance later memory performance (see R. A. Bjork & E. L. Bjork, ). Here, we investigated whether divided attention during retrieval practice can also constitute a desirable difficulty. Following two initial study phases and one test phase with Swahili-English word pairs (e.g., vuvi-snake), we manipulated whether items were tested again under full or divided attention. Two days later, participants were brought back for a final cued-recall test (e.g., vuvi-?). Across three experiments (combined N = 122), we found no evidence that dividing attention while practicing retrieval enhances memory retention. This finding raises the question of why many types of difficulty during practice do improve long-term retention, but dividing attention does not. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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