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1 reference
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- Vol 1 RE: Chapters 1, 2, 3, 10
- Vol 2 RE: App D
learning versus performanceretrieval practicespacing effectinterleavingdelayed feedbacktransfer tasksJournal article Evidence summaryAt a glance
Soderstrom and Bjork distinguish performance—temporary, observable success during instruction—from learning, the relatively durable changes that support later retention and transfer. The two can dissociate: conditions that produce rapid, fluent performance may create weak long-term learning, while conditions that introduce errors or difficulty during practice can strengthen later capability.
Key ideas
The review traces this distinction from latent learning and motor research through contemporary verbal and skill learning. Massed practice, blocked schedules, immediate feedback, and repeated study often improve acquisition performance. Spacing, interleaving, delayed or reduced feedback, retrieval practice, variable practice, and generation can impair or slow practice yet enhance delayed tests, provided the difficulty is desirable rather than overwhelming. Learners and instructors may misjudge effectiveness because fluency and confidence are salient. For educators, training should be evaluated with delayed, unfamiliar, and transfer tasks, not practice scores alone.
Why it matters
Support can be reduced as expertise grows, and challenge should remain achievable with feedback. The article does not claim that poor performance is always productive; difficulty benefits learning only when it engages relevant processes and successful encoding or retrieval remains possible.
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Edition abbreviations
- TE
- Teacher Edition
- PE
- Practice Edition
- RE
- Research Edition
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