Learning Principles in Aphasia Rehabilitation (Middleton et al., 2016)

<b>Purpose: </b>The purpose of this article was to examine how different types of learning experiences affect naming impairment in aphasia. <div><b>Methods: </b>In 4 people with aphasia with naming impairment, we compared the benefits of naming treatment that emphasized<i> retrieval practice</i> (practice retrieving target names from long-term memory) with<i> errorless learning</i> (repetition training, which preempts retrieval practice) according to different schedules of learning. The design was within subjects. Items were administered for multiple training trials for retrieval practice or repetition in a <i>spaced </i>schedule (an item’s trials were separated by multiple unrelated trials) or <i>massed </i>schedule (1 trial intervened between an item’s trials). In the spaced condition, we studied 3 magnitudes of spacing to evaluate the impact of effortful retrieval during training on the ultimate benefits conferred by retrieval practice naming treatment. The primary outcome was performance on a retention test of naming after 1 day, with a follow-up test after 1 week. <div><b>Results:</b> Group analyses revealed that retrieval practice outperformed errorless learning, and spaced learning outperformed massed learning at retention test and at follow-up. Increases in spacing in the retrieval practice condition yielded more robust learning of retrieved information. </div><div><b>Conclusion:</b> This study delineates the importance of retrieval practice and spacing for treating naming impairment in aphasia.</div></div>