This is part of a series of articles where we will discuss strategies to improve our long-term retention of information. This is especially important not just for anyone that wants to pass an exam, but for those that want to have the knowledge they need to help patients ready at a moment's notice.
In our last article (link: Secrets to Long-Term Learning Part 2: Retrieve, Retrieve, Retrieve) we discussed just how important it is to practice retrieving information if we want to remember it. Retrieval practice is one of the easiest ways of improving long-term memory, but how we practice retrieval can radically change how well we remember material.
A fascinating study was performed where young children were asked to practice throwing bean bags into bins. One group practiced throwing bean bags into bins 3 feet away, the other group practiced throwing bean bags into bins 2 or 4 feet away. Both groups were then tested on how well they were able to throw bean bags into a bin 3 feet away. What group do you think did the best at throwing bean bags into bins 3 feet away?
The counterintuitive answer is the group that practiced throwing bean bags into bins 2 or 4 feet away did better than the group throwing bean bags just 3 feet away. The mere act of being forced to adjust between different types of problems resulted in measurably improved performance in bean bag throwing on a type of problem that wasn't even practiced!
This phenomenon is called interleaving. By mixing up the kinds of problems that are being practiced, the learner actually improves their long-term retention. Paradoxically, while practicing the same type of problem over and over feels better because the improvement is readily visible to the learner, mixing up the problem sets radically improves how well students do on long-term retrieval of information. This gain in performance is in part because switching up the problems requires sustained effort, something that improves later recall.
To practice what we preach, here is a short quiz to help you remember the content of this and the previous articles.
1) What are the three conditions of effective retrieval practice?
2) What group would perform better on an exam, a group that practiced the one type of problem that occurs on the exam or one that practiced different types of problems?
3) Why would the previously mentioned group do better?
4) How much information is lost two days after a test if the only preparation was rereading?
Key: 1) Repeated retrieval practice, effortful retrieval practice, spaced out retrieval practice. 2) The group that practiced different types of problems will perform better on a later exam. 3) The group practicing different types of problems does better on later exams because this requires additional effort for them to remember how to do each problem. 4) 50%.
