Nathan’s Paper on Study Habits Passes Popularity Milestone

April 23, 2014

A paper coauthored by Mitchell J. Nathan published in January 2013 in Psychological Science in the Public Interest has garnered more than 100,000 downloads/page views, making it the most downloaded article in the journal’s history.

The paper found that study techniques such as underlining, highlighting, rereading material, and using mnemonic devices are far less effective than commonly believed. Conversely, taking practice tests and spreading study sessions out over time were found to be the most beneficial.

In the past year, the study was covered by Time, the Washington Post, Scientific American Mind, CBSNews.com, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Huffington Post, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Nathan is a professor of learning sciences in UW–Madison’s Educational Psychology Department and the director of the Center on Education and Work, which is housed within WCER.

The UW–Madison School of Education recently published an article of the study and its impact.