Abstract: Learning is one of the most important higher cognitive functions of human beings. So it is of vital importance to explore the learning methods. The visual form is the carrier of the written language. In cognitive psychology, the visual form processing is the initial stage of reading, and the efficiency of the processing of visual form will directly affect the understanding of the word. In this sense, it is the critical important task to improve the learning efficiency of the visual form. Existing evidence indicated that repeated learning can enhance memory, compared to massed learning condition, materials under spaced learning condition have better memory performance, this phenomenon is called spacing effect. Many studies have examined the effects of learning methods on native language or second language vocabulary learning, however, the impact of spacing effect on learning visual form is still unknown. As we know, vocabulary is a combination of the form, phonology and semantic. In the learning process, the verbal components such as form, phonology, semantic and so on are activated and influenced each other. Therefore, it is difficult to separate the influence of the learning method on the form learning. The use of a new word system can avoid the use of verbal strategies to learn and memory, to eliminate the interference of phonology and semantic, and to reveal the mechanism of the effect of learning methods. Using the study-test paradigm, the present study investigated the impact of learning method on unfamiliar visual form (i.e. Korean characters) learning. During the study phase, each character was presented successively in massed condition, while separated by 11 other characters in spaced condition. In both conditions, each character was presented for six times. Recognition memory tests were administered at half an hour (T1), one day (T2) and one week (T3) after learning. Results showed that subjects performed better in spaced learning in all three recognition memory tests, although the performance at T2 and T3 decreased significantly as a result of forgetting. These results suggest that spaced learning is better than massed learning, even in novel visual forms. Our finding is in line with previous studies that examined the spacing effect. The results of the present study extend the discovery of the advantages of spacing effect in previous studies from vocabulary learning to visual form learning, and showed that after eliminating the influence of semantic, spaced learning can promote the new visual form learning, this effect is not caused by the primacy effect and recency effect. The advantages of spaced learning in the present study may be explained by the two factors model and also have important potential implications for foreign language learning and teaching.

Key words: massed learning, spaced learning, visual word, spacing effect

摘要： 采用学习-测查的范式，以陌生视觉单词（韩字）为材料，考察了学习方法对陌生语言字形学习效果的影响。在学习阶段，材料分别以连续重复（集中学习）和间隔重复（分散学习）方式呈现6遍，在学习之后半小时、1天以及1个星期之后，分别进行再认记忆测查。结果发现，虽然随着测查间隔时间增长，两种学习条件的成绩都显著降低，但是在三次测查中，分散学习的成绩都明显好于集中学习。这一结果说明在排除语音、语义等其他言语元素的干扰之后，以分散学习的方式学习新字形的效果好于集中学习。

关键词: 集中学习, 分散学习, 视觉单词, 间隔效应