The existing literature on study time allocation has primarily focused on how people regulate their study time allocation across different items and conditions. However, these studies rarely investigated how self-regulated study time allocation affects later retention. In this review, the effectiveness of self-regulated study time allocation on retention is evaluated by (1) comparing people who regulated their study time allocation to those who did not and (2) examining whether people reduce or eliminate item difficulty effects through study time allocation. The results suggest that although people benefit from self-pacing their study and selecting what to study, they cannot regulate their study strategies effectively or fully compensate for item difficulty effects through self-regulated study time allocation. Existing theoretical models of study time allocation are discussed in light of these findings, and two alternative theoretical explanations are proposed to account for the findings.

现有的关于学习时间分配的文献主要集中在人们如何在不同的项目和条件下调节他们的学习时间分配。然而，这些研究很少调查自我调节的学习时间分配如何影响以后的保留。在这篇综述中，通过以下方式评估自我调节学习时间分配对保留的有效性：(1) 将调节学习时间分配的人与没有调节学习时间分配的人进行比较；(2) 检查人们是否通过学习时间减少或消除项目难度效应分配。结果表明，尽管人们从自主学习进度和选择学习内容中受益，但他们并不能有效地调节学习策略或通过自主学习时间分配来完全补偿项目难度的影响。