A comparison of spaced retrieval to other schedules of practice for people with dementia

Spaced retrieval training ( Camp, 1989, In Memory, Aging, and Dementia-Theory, Assessment, and Treatment ( pp. 212-225), New York: Springer) uses a schedule of practice trials distributed according to a learner's performance. The authors compared spaced retrieval to four alternative schedules of practice to determine whether it is more effective than other schedules for people with dementia. Participants practiced ( a) pill names or ( b) nonverbal sequences. Spaced retrieval did not produce long-term retention more often than other schedules of practice on either task. Participants with higher scores on one portion of the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised ( Benedict, Schretlen, Groninger, & Brandt, 1998, The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 12, 43-55) were more likely to show long-term retention of pill names regardless of schedule of practice ( Experiment 1).