Spacing practice sessions across days benefits the learning of motor skills

Abstract

The effects of distributing practice sessions across days, compared to within days, on the learning of motor skills were examined. In Experiment 1, a continuous dynamic balance task was practiced in two sessions of seven trials each. For one group, sessions were separated by 20 min while for the other group the sessions were separated by 24 h. In Experiment 2, three variations of a key-press timing task were practiced in three sessions, one session for each task variation. Again, practice for one group was distributed within days and the other across days. In both experiments, a retention test was administered 24 h after the completion of practice. The results indicated that spacing practice sessions over relatively long intervals (days) resulted in the enhancement of performance during the remaining practice sessions and enhanced learning as assessed by the delayed retention test. The results are consistent with the memory consolidation hypothesis and suggest that this interval may play a substantial role in the learning of motor skills.