{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/give-secondary-skills-a-maintenance-floor",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-9046",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Give secondary skills a maintenance floor",
  "summary": "Priority can be asymmetric without becoming zero-sum.",
  "kind": "heuristic",
  "body": "Define the smallest evidence-based maintenance action that keeps a secondary capability accessible during the dominance period: a spaced retrieval, a short real use, or a small production task. Keep the floor deliberately small so it does not grow back into a competing primary programme.",
  "limits": [
    "There is no universal maintenance dose. Increase or reduce the floor from actual retention and real-use needs."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "union-skill-acquisition-career-dominant-focus"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-1456EFA05374C886",
    "RS-450420625BC74F3D",
    "RS-A99D57B59D372E5E"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "A 2025 meta-analysis of applied classroom research found a moderate advantage for distributed over massed practice (d = 0.54), with substantial variation across studies.",
      "source_id": "RS-1456EFA05374C886",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "The evidence does not identify one universal spacing interval or prove the same effect size for every adult work skill.",
      "locator": "Abstract"
    },
    {
      "claim": "A 2021 systematic review of 50 classroom experiments found retrieval practice benefited learning across varied educational settings, with most included effects in the medium-or-large range.",
      "source_id": "RS-450420625BC74F3D",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "Retrieval is not guaranteed to improve every kind of inference or transfer, and the review had limited non-WEIRD representation.",
      "locator": "Abstract"
    },
    {
      "claim": "A review of cognitive control argues that adaptive behavior requires both cognitive stability for task focus and cognitive flexibility for switching when goals or circumstances change.",
      "source_id": "RS-A99D57B59D372E5E",
      "role": "contextualizes",
      "note": "This is a conceptual synthesis rather than a trial of a personal goal-prioritization system.",
      "locator": "Abstract, introduction and conclusion"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "When one development goal becomes dominant but other valuable skills would decay if abandoned completely."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "There is no universal maintenance dose. Increase or reduce the floor from actual retention and real-use needs."
  ],
  "example": "German becomes secondary during an English assessment cycle, so one short speaking exchange and one spaced vocabulary return remain while intensive German study pauses.",
  "check": "The secondary skill has a compact maintenance rule and does not consume the best development block.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-1456EFA05374C886",
      "title": "The Distributed Practice Effect on Classroom Learning: A Meta-Analytic Review of Applied Research",
      "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40564553/"
    },
    {
      "id": "RS-450420625BC74F3D",
      "title": "Retrieval Practice Consistently Benefits Student Learning: a Systematic Review of Applied Research in Schools and Classrooms",
      "url": "https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-021-09595-9"
    },
    {
      "id": "RS-A99D57B59D372E5E",
      "title": "Principles of cognitive control over task focus and task switching",
      "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11409542/"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "from": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-9046",
      "to": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-9039",
      "type": "useful_with",
      "url": "/knowledge/name-one-dominant-development-edge"
    }
  ],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-EA04F47374E04549",
      "title": "Learn new skills, turn them into career evidence, and protect the main development edge",
      "url": "/collections/learn-new-skills-turn-them-into-career-evidence-and-protect-the-main-development-edge"
    }
  ]
}