ABSTRACT
Skill and knowledge retention and decay is a major issue and concern in learning and skill acquisition, especially when trained or acquired skills (or knowledge) are needed after long periods of nonuse. Thus, phenomena involving retention and decay are particularly salient and critical in situations where individuals and teams receive initial training on skills and knowledge that they may not be required to use or may not have the opportunity to perform for extended periods of time. Hence, the identification of factors that enhance posttraining skill retention and transfer is potentially of vital importance and value. Unfortunately, a limitation that characterizes the learning, training, and educational literatures is the tendency to study learning (i.e., acquisition), retention, and transfer independently. However, contrary to this common practice, acquisition, retention, and transfer are recognized as related but separate phenomena that may yield different interpretations of the extent to which learning has taken place. Consequently, to fully understand the effects of a training intervention or manipulation, one must measure its effects in terms of not only acquisition, but also of retention and transfer.
