Spaced-Retrieval with Probable Alzheimer's

Four older adults with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) were trained to recall everyday objects using the spaced-retrieval technique. Two persons who had participated in a previous spaced-retrieval training program were retested here to provide new evidence on the long-term effectiveness of the training. Two others who had not been tested previously served as controls. Spaced-retrieval training consisted of six-hour-long sessions given on alternate days over a two-week period. On each trial, participants selected a designated object from an array of items at increasingly longer retention intervals. All participants showed positive effects of spaced-retrieval training across sessions, as reflected in fewer errors per trial and longer retention duration across sessions. There was little evidence of long-term effects of spaced-retrieval training in that the original and control participants performed comparably. Implications of these results for the long-term maintenance of memory training programs are discussed.