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Spaced retrieval practice consists of repetitions of the same retrieval event distributed through time. This learning strategy combines two “desirable difficulties”: retrieval practice and spacing effects. We carried out meta-analyses on 29 studies investigating the benefit of spacing out retrieval practice episodes on final retention. The total dataset was divided into two subsets to investigate two main questions: (1) Does spaced retrieval practice induce better memory retention than massed retrieval practice? (subset 1); (2) Is the expanding spacing schedule superior to the uniform spacing schedule when learning with retrieval practice? (subset 2). Using meta-regression with robust variance estimation, 39 effect sizes were aggregated in subset 1 and 54 in subset 2. Results from subset 1 indicated a strong benefit of spaced retrieval practice in comparison with massed retrieval practice (g = 0.74). Results from subset 2 indicated no significant difference between expanding and uniform spacing schedules of retrieval practice (g = 0.034). Moderator analyses on this subset showed that the number of exposures of an item during retrieval practice explains inconsistencies between studies: the more learners are tested, the more beneficial the expanding schedule is compared with the uniform one. Overall, these results support the advantage of spacing out the retrieval practice episodes on the same content, but do not support the widely held belief that inter-retrieval intervals should be progressively increased until a retention test.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by impairments in social functioning, communication, and by the presence of repetitive behaviours and restricted interests. Abnormal processing of faces has also been described as a neuropsychological feature of ASD. We investigated the ability to judge two personality traits in adults with ASD in comparison to typically developed adults (TD). We used an eye tracking device to investigate the exploration of faces when participants judged the degree of trustworthiness and dominance of synthetic faces. In sum, we found that adults with ASD were as capable as TD adults to judge personality traits of face trustworthiness and dominance, which relied on similar exploration of the synthetic faces in the two populations.

Study Objectives: Rigidity is a muscle hypertonia typical of Parkinson disease (PD), whereas rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is characterized by abnormally increased muscle tone during REM sleep (REM sleep without atonia) and enacting dream behaviors. Because movements are not bradykinetic during RBD in patients with PD, we investigated whether the background, wake postural rigidity is attenuated during REM sleep without atonia, in absence of movement. Methods: The amplitude of levator menti (postural muscle) electromyographic activity during relaxed evening wakefulness (considered as reference) and sleep (N2, N3, atonic REM sleep, and quiet REM sleep without atonia) was measured in 20 patients with PD (with and without RBD), 10 patients with idiopathic RBD patients and 10 healthy subjects. Results: The chin tone amplitude progressively decreased from wake to N2, N3, and atonic REM sleep in the four groups, but the highest amplitude was observed in PD patients with RBD during atonic REM sleep. Furthermore, chin muscle tone amplitude did not attenuate from wake to REM sleep without atonia in patients with both PD and RBD but dramatically attenuated (by 40% on average) in patients with idiopathic RBD. Conclusions: The high amplitude of chin muscle tone in PD with RBD (but not in idiopathic RBD) during REM sleep with and without atonia suggests that both PD-related hypertonia and RBD-related enhanced muscle tone coexist during REM sleep, together affecting chin muscle tone. Consequently, some rapid RBD movements likely start against a rigid postural tone. Citation: Arnaldi D, Latimier A, Leu-Semenescu S, De Carli F, Vidailhet M, Arnulf I. Does postural rigidity decrease during REM sleep without atonia in Parkinson disease? J Clin Sleep Med 2016;12(6):839–847.

Compared with other learning strategies, retrieval practice seems to promote superior long-term retention. This has been found mostly in conditions where learners take tests after being exposed to learning content. However, a pre-testing effect has also been demonstrated, with promising results. This raises the question, for a given amount of time dedicated to retrieval practice, whether learners should be tested before or after an initial exposure to learning content. Our experiment directly compares the benefits of post-testing and pre-testing relative to an extended reading condition, on a retention test 7 days later. We replicated both post-testing (d = 0.74) and pre-testing effects (d = 0.35), with significantly better retention in the former condition. Post-testing also promoted knowledge transfer to previously untested questions, whereas pre-testing did not. Our results thus suggest that it may be more fruitful to test students after than before exposure to learning content.