Empirically Supported

Studying Methods

SUNY FSC Psychology Club, Fall 2015

Meeting #1

Eric Foltrauer
 Kent State University Study
• Published in the journal Psychological Science in the Public
Interest
• Led by Dr. John Dunlosky
Professor of Psychology
Director of Experimental Training
• Him and his team conducted research on 10 different
learning techniques
• Why?
Because there is no evidence to support that the expensive
programs and technological innovations on which parents
and students spend a lot of money work as marketed.
To inform teachers, students, and parents about effective
strategies.
 The Common Methods Examined
• Elaborative Interrogation: generating an explanation for why an explicitly stated fact or
concept is true
• Self-Explanation: explaining how new information is related to known information, or
explaining steps taken during problem solving
• Summarization: writing summaries of various lengths
• Highlighting or Underlining: marking potentially important portions of material while
reading
• Keyword Mnemonic: using keywords and mental imagery to associate verbal information
• Imagery for Text: forming mental images of text material while reading or listening
• Re-reading: re-reading text after initially reading it
• Practice Testing: self-testing with flash cards or taking practice tests on relevant material
• Distributed Practice: implementing a schedule of practice that spreads out study activities
over days or weeks
• Interleaved Practice: implementing a schedule of practice that mixes different kinds of
problems, or material, within a single study session
 Reviewed on the basis of four
criteria:
• Learning conditions: environment necessary to partake in the technique
(e.g., if a student could do it alone or had to have a group)

• Student characteristics: age, ability and prior level of knowledge

• Materials: necessary items to use each method

• Criterion: various outcome measures to show student achievement such as

memory, problem-solving, and comprehension (showing which specific
skills the study method helped improve)
 Distributed Studying
and Practice Tests

• Set a schedule that spreads out your studying over a long period of time (days to
weeks)
• Practice exams from study guides (which may be found online where textbooks are
sold) and helpful websites such CENGAGEBRAIN.COM. Most textbooks have
associated study guides that are sold separately.

Both of these techniques have been shown to boost students’ performance

across many different kinds of tests, and their effectiveness has been
repeatedly demonstrated for students of all ages.

Dunlosky argues that these two methods will significantly help students
improve on tests, in class participation, and on various tasks in life.
 Least Effective Methods
Surprisingly, some of the most commonly used methods have
been proven to be not-so-helpful.

• Summarization
• Highlighting
• Keyword mnemonics
• Creative imagery
• Re-reading
Other Tips Supported by Psych Research
• Study in a quiet setting
• Don’t study in bed. Your brain may focus on falling asleep and it may begin to associate
studying with falling asleep which can cause you to become sleepy when you study again in
the future.
• Don’t have any distraction such as a cell phone.
• Play music with a steady tempo (preferably music with 60 beats-per-minute) like
classical concertos, or play calm sounds from nature. Set your playlist so that no
surprising or distracting songs come on.
• Eat a small snack. Glucose production promotes brain function.
• Sleep immediately after studying so that your working memories are better transferred into
your long-term memory.
• If you are doubting yourself, are not feeling confident, or feeling hopeless about school,
remind yourself of your skills and abilities (think positively about yourself).
• If you have only a little time left to study, don’t think that you have no time left. Don’t
think that you always mess things up. And, don’t think that you’re irresponsible. (Avoid
catastrophic thinking, absolute thinking, and labeling yourself.)