A comparison of adjusted spaced retrieval versus a uniform expanded retrieval schedule for learning a name–face association in older adults with probable Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

We compared the efficacy of two memory training schedules, adjusted spaced retrieval and uniform expanded retrieval, for learning a name–face association in 12 older adults with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD). Nine training sessions were administered on alternate days for three weeks. Results yielded a positive effect of adjusted spaced retrieval on the proportion of correct recall trials and greater success in transferring the learned information to the live target, compared to the uniform expanded retrieval schedule. These data suggest that the spacing effect may underlie the memorial benefit of spaced retrieval. Implications for practical uses of spaced retrieval are considered.

This study was conducted in partial fulfillment of the PhD degree requirements at Louisiana State University by the first author. We thank committee members, Janet McDonald, Jason Hicks, and George Strain for their valuable comments on this research. We also thank Susie Folse, Administrator of Ollie Steele Burden Manor Nursing Home; Gratia Bernard of Sunrise Assisted Living Facility; and Diane Kelly, Director of St. Francis House Adult Day Care Center, a program of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, for their help with participant recruitment and providing space for testing. We are grateful to William Delaune for statistical consultation.

Notes

¹In the SPT, 10 items are presented (e.g., rubber band), and participants perform a specific action with each item (e.g., stretch the rubber band). Participants later free recall the objects and the actions. For nonrecalled items, the object is represented as a cue, and participants describe what they did with the object. The SPT was scored based on strict (i.e., verbatim) and lenient (i.e., semantically parallel) criteria for both free recall and cued recall of the objects and the actions. Overall, free recall of the objects and actions were low, regardless of the criteria (see Table 1). This finding is consistent with the literature where persons with probable AD show gross deficits on measures of secondary memory (Cherry & Plauche, 1996).

²After examining the Session 1 spaced retrieval data from Hawley and Cherry (2004), we determined that it was necessary for each participant to train to one perfect trial for practice rather than set a predetermined number of practice trials, as the archival data revealed that many participants took multiple trials to achieve success on the task initially.

³We chose 15-s increments for the uniform expanded retrieval group as this value was approximately one fourth of the average improvement in longest duration per session in Hawley and Cherry's (2004) data. The proportional increase in the average improvement is an attempt to account for the gradual learning across trials indicated in the archival data. Pilot work with two adults from the same setting as those in the experiment proper confirmed that they were successful on the name–face task with this uniform expanded retrieval schedule, implying that the present methodology was sufficiently sensitive and would permit meaningful comparisons with the adjusted spaced retrieval schedule.