SPACING AND THE RETENTION OF SYNONYMS

Two experiments investigated the retention of word pairs as a joint function of synonymity and of Word 1/Word 2 spacings. Word 1 and Word 2 were adjectives or adverbs, presented in identical sentence contexts, for either intentional (Experiment 1) or incidental (Experiment 2) learning. In both experiments, it was found that as the spacing between the first and second members of the high-similarity pairs increased, recognition of the word pairs decreased (i.e., a reverse spacing effect). For low-similarity pairs, only incidental learning instructions led to a reverse spacing effect. A positive, rather than reverse, spacing effect had been predicted for high-similarity word pairs. Implications of the unexpected finding are discussed. © 1979, The Psychonomic Soceity, Inc.. All rights reserved.