Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis

Nicholas J. Cepeda, Harold Pashler, Edward Vul, John T. Wixted, Doug Rohrer2006Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380

We checked this card's citation and the finding we state against the source's own page or record in October 2026.

What it found

Pooling hundreds of experiments on spacing out study, the review found that the gap between study sessions and the time until the test work together: the longer you need to remember something, the longer the gap between study sessions that gives the best retention.

What kind of study it is

Design: Meta-analysis
Weight: A synthesis: it pools or weighs many studies, so it carries the most weight on the evidence meter.
Sample: 839 assessments of distributed practice in 317 experiments from 184 articles

Read it

doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.354 · ERIC record EJ742345

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Cite this study

Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.354

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