Spaced Practice
Repeated studying of information spaced out over time will lead to a greater long term retention than studying the same information for the same amount of time in one study session.
The spacing effect refers to repeating the same information multiple times, not the idea of studying different material in one long session vs spaced out in short sessions.
# disuse theory of forgeting (1992)
Mechanistic explanation for spaced practice
Memory has retrieval strength (ease of recall) and storage strength (the extend to which memory is truly embedded in th mind. The act of studying boosts both retrieval strength and storage strength. The extend to which storage strength is boosted depends on retrieval stength. The greater the current retrieval strength, the smaller the gains in storage strength.
# Effect On Confidence
Bjork, R. A. (1999).Assessing our own competence: heuristics and illusions