Final answer:
The Spacing Effect, pioneered by Hermann Ebbinghaus, suggests that spreading study sessions over time results in better retention due to minimized memory decay. Therefore, studying an hour each day for a week is more effective than one 7-hour study session.
Step-by-step explanation:
The psychological principle that best explains why studying an hour per day for a week is more effective than one 7-hour study session is called the Spacing Effect. Pioneered by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, this principle suggests that our brains learn more efficiently when we spread out our study sessions over time. This is partly due to the factor of memory decay. According to Ebbinghaus's forgetting curve, an average person will lose 50% of the memorized information after 20 minutes and 70% after 24 hours.
Therefore, by studying a little bit each day, we give our brains the chance to consolidate and reinforce the information we've learned, making it more likely to stick in our long-term memory. This method allows for more distributed practice and results in better retention compared to cramming all the study into one long session.
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