On sustaining procedural skills over a prolonged retention interval.

Abstract : The purpose of this research was to determine: (1) the long-term retention of procedural skills depends on how periodic, refresher training sessions are scheduled, and (2) if soldiers can estimate in advance of retention testing how much training they require to regain proficiency. Thirty-eight Army reservists were divided into three groups and trained under one of the following schedules: Control, where initial training continued until the soldier achieved a criterion of one errorless performance; Massed Sessions (MS), where initial training was extended 100% beyond criterion performance; and Spaced Sessions (SS), where 100% overtraining trials were provided midway through the retention interval. Performance was measured on the disassembly and assembly of the M60 machinegun, and it was measured following 8 weeks of no practice. Immediately prior to retention testing and retraining, soldiers completed a questionnaire designed to assess whether they could estimate the amount of training they required to regain proficiency on the experimental task.