Long-term memory, sleep, and the spacing effect
Many studies have shown that memory is enhanced when study sessions are spaced apart rather than massed. This spacing effect has been shown to have a lasting benefit to long-term memory when the study phase session follows the encoding session by 24 hours. Using a spacing paradigm we
examined the impact of sleep and spacing gaps on long-term declarative memory for Swahili–English word pairs by including four spacing delay gaps (massed, 12 hours same-day, 12 hours overnight, and 24 hours). Results showed that a 12-hour spacing gap that includes sleep promotes long-term
memory retention similar to the 24-hour gap. The findings support the importance of sleep to the long-term benefit of the spacing effect.
Keywords: Memory; Sleep; Spacing effect
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: Psychology Department, Santa Clara University, CA, USA 2: Psychology Department, York University, Canada
Publication date: 03 April 2014
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