ABSTRACT
This chapter shows a significant increase in learning compared to a typical lesson. It argues that spacing out the faces, by showing a sequence of different ones, produced more activity in the part of the brain linked to face recognition than the massed presentation. The chapter provides preliminary evidence and the Educational Endowment Foundation has recommended a larger trial before drawing firm conclusions about the success of spaced learning. In the ‘spaced learning’ condition, the faces were presented in sequence, one after the other. In one trial, students studied an entire first biology course through spaced learning over a period of 90 minutes. In another trial, students aged 14–15 used spaced learning to review material for a biology exam. New research into the neuroscience of learning has now identified how long-term memories can be made in minutes rather than days and for complex topics, not just basic associations.
