Should we consolidate learning by regular revision of past topics throughout the year? For example, I have heard that

Question: Should we consolidate learning by regular revision of past topics throughout the year? For example, I have heard that to fully remember something you should revisit it after a few hours, few days, a few weeks and then a few months? Is there any evidence to support this idea and is it time dependant?
- Keywords:
  evidence,
  learning,
  Learning and Remembering,
  remember,
  revision
Asked by stannum to Jessie, Jo, Liz, Lucy, Paul, Yana on 10 Jan 2018.
- Jo Taylor answered on 10 Jan 2018:
  
  Hi there,
  There are some points relevant to this question in response to a question asked last year:
  
  Is there research which informs advice about the optimal amount of time between study sessions to improve pupils’
  
  There is good evidence that if we have a night’s sleep (or even a nap) after we learn something it boosts memory for that information. This is because the hippocampus communicates with brain areas that process language, vision, and movement during sleep, allowing new memories to be integrated with our existing knowledge, and become more resistant to interference. For example, when learning foreign vocabulary, sleep can allow us to see commonalities between these words and extract general rules, such as how to form the past tense.
  
  There are some good articles on this here:
  https://theconversation.com/how-a-lack-of-sleep-affects-your-brain-and-personality-66604
  https://theconversation.com/learning-a-language-sleep-on-it-and-youll-get-the-grammar-40605
  
  What this research suggests is that it certainly might be useful to revisit information the next day or after a few days as knowledge may have consolidated and improved. I’m afraid I don’t know much about the more longer term aspects.
  
  Another relevant point is that recalling information ourselves, i.e. testing ourselves, can be a better way to learn than simply reading or listening to the information again. You can read more about that here:
  
  Testing is Key to Long-Term Learning
- Yana Weinstein answered on 22 Jan 2018:
  
  You don’t have to follow the regimented schedule of hours/days/weeks/months, but generally, yes, spaced practice is absolutely necessary in order for learning to be durable. This guest post on our blog by a teacher might help: http://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2017/8/23-1