Effects of Massed versus Distributed Practice on Acquisition of Video Game Skill

This study investigated the effects of massed versus distributed practice on the learning of video-game-playing skill by 45 subjects of both sexes. The apparatus included an Apple II+ microcomputer system with gamepaddles and a commercial video game (Apple Brick-Out). Each subject played the video game 10 times in succession. However, the distributed practice subjects were given a newspaper to read for 2 min. between games. The elapsed time and the point score of each game were recorded on-line. To equate preexperimental between-subject differences in video-game-playing skill, the first game's performance scores (points) were subtracted from each of the other nine to yield change scores. The means of both indexes, computed across subjects for each of the nine game change scores, showed marked improvement for all subjects; however, the distributed practice group consistently showed more improvement. This study supports the previous findings and validates a technique for study of various effects on acquisition of motor skill.