Schedules of Practice in Naming Treatment: Getting the Most Bang for Your Buck

Field: Medicine (Health Sciences)

Event Abstract Back to Event Schedules of Practice in Naming Treatment: Getting the Most Bang for Your Buck Julia Schuchard1* and Erica L. Middleton1 1 Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, United States In this study, we examine how basic learning principles operate in strengthening lexical access in aphasia. Cognitive psychological research has established that (1) retrieving information from long-term memory enhances learning and (2) spacing retrievals of a given item across longer intervals typically increases long-term retention, particularly when spacing across multiple training sessions (e.g., Rawson & Dunlosky, 2011, 2013; Vaughn, Dunlosky, & Rawson, 2016). Based on these principles, we predict that increasing the number of retrievals of a particular name within a training session will produce relatively small benefits, whereas additional retrievals of the name spaced across multiple sessions will significantly improve the durability and efficiency of learning. This ongoing study comprises two separate training phases to evaluate results at a one-day retention interval in one phase and a one-week retention interval in the other. During training, participants practice retrieving the names for a personalized item set of pictures of famous people and films. In one training phase, three sessions are administered on three consecutive days. After initial familiarization of each item in Session 1, each training trial consists of a naming attempt followed by feedback. In each session, items are dropped from further training after the participant correctly retrieves and produces the name for the item on one, two, or four separate trials (the Drop 1, Drop 2, and Drop 4 conditions, respectively). In Session 2 and Session 3, the first training trial (i.e., the first naming attempt) for each item serves as a test of one-day retention of learning in the prior session(s). In the other training phase, new items assigned to the Drop 1, Drop 2, and Drop 4 conditions are trained with the same procedures, except that the three sessions are spaced one week apart. Primary outcome variables are naming accuracy and an efficiency score (i.e., naming accuracy divided by the total number of training trials previously administered in a condition). Preliminary data in this study were collapsed across the two training phases and evaluated using regression models with participant as a fixed effect. Data from three individuals with mild anomic aphasia showed that large increases in the amount of training per session had relatively small effects on subsequent naming accuracy (see Figure 1). As a result, efficiency was significantly greater for the Drop 1 condition than the Drop 2 condition, Estimate=0.48, t=4.06, p<.001, or the Drop 4 condition, Estimate=0.68, t=5.67, p<.001. In contrast, spacing training across multiple sessions induced large effects on retention. Naming accuracy at retention was significantly greater after correct retrievals were spaced across two sessions compared to the same number of correct retrievals within one session, Estimate=0.56, z=2.98, p<.01. These results suggest that (1) after the first correct retrieval of a name, additional retrievals of that name within the same session yield diminishing benefits, and (2) spacing training across multiple sessions has potent effects on maintenance of naming gains. The findings indicate that retrieval practice principles derived from basic learning research apply to long-lasting changes in lexical access. Figure 1 Acknowledgements NOTE: The Frontiers website would not advance unless I selected the topic "Consider for student award," but this is not a student submission. Please do not consider for the student award. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grant T32 HD071844. References Rawson, K. A., & Dunlosky, J. (2011). Optimizing schedules of retrieval practice for durable and efficient learning: How much is enough? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 140(3), 283–302. Rawson, K. A., & Dunlosky, J. (2013). Relearning attenuates the benefits and costs of spacing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 142(4), 1113–1129. Vaughn, K. E., Dunlosky, J., & Rawson, K. A. (2016). Effects of successive relearning on recall: Does relearning override the effects of initial learning criterion? Memory & Cognition, 44(6), 897–909. Keywords: Aphasia, retrieval practice, naming, Learning, spacing, lexical access Conference: Academy of Aphasia 55th Annual Meeting , Baltimore, United States, 5 Nov - 7 Nov, 2017. Presentation Type: poster or oral Topic: Consider for student award Citation: Schuchard J and Middleton EL (2019). Schedules of Practice in Naming Treatment: Getting the Most Bang for Your Buck . Conference Abstract: Academy of Aphasia 55th Annual Meeting . doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2017.223.00091 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 21 Apr 2017; Published Online: 25 Jan 2019. * Correspondence: Dr. Julia Schuchard, Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Elkins Park, PA, 19027, United States, jrschuchard@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Julia Schuchard Erica L Middleton Google Julia Schuchard Erica L Middleton Google Scholar Julia Schuchard Erica L Middleton PubMed Julia Schuchard Erica L Middleton Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.