Spaced Retrieval as Treatment for Aphasia

Spaced Retrieval as Treatment for Aphasia: Does Adaptive Spacing Enhance Picture Naming Performance?

Spaced Repetition training has been found to be more effective than massed repetition for individuals with aphasia. This study seeks to examine the relative efficiency of three kinds of spacing for picture-naming training: traditional random presentation, non-adaptive spaced repetition, and adaptive spaced repetition.

Participants undergo a screening evaluation including the Quick Aphasia Battery (administered via teleconferencing software), and a preliminary picture naming test of approximately 300 pictures, used to select individual items for treatment. Participants then undertake online picture naming training for 30 minutes a day, over two weeks. Pictures are repeated according to three different schedules to be compared: random presentation, non-adaptive spaced repetition, and adaptive spaced repetition. We compare the number of pictures successfully learned and the verbal reaction time for the pictures assigned to the three conditions.

Inclusion Criteria:

• presence of a post-stroke word finding deficit (i.e. aphasia), or primary progressive aphasia.
• ability to evaluate the correctness of one's own responses when subsequently provided the with the correct answer

Exclusion Criteria:

• diagnosis of a neurological disorder other than post-stroke or primary progressive aphasia
• inability to evaluate the correctness of ones responses when subsequently provided with the correct answer