STRUCTURING THE ACQUISITION AND RETRIEVAL ENVIRONMENT TO FACILITATE LEARNING IN INDIVIDUALS WITH DEMENTIA OF THE ALZHEIMER-TYPE

Three experiments using variations of the Subject Performed Task (SPT) paradigm examined whether structuring the learning and retrieval envi ronment would improve learning in individuals with mild to moderate de mentia of the Alzheimer type (DAT). Experiment 1 examined the role of enactment at encoding and retrieval, and found that with appropriate r etrieval support DAT volunteers do benefit from enactment at encoding. Experiment 2 showed that recall was further enhanced when the list of SPTs formed a cohesive, goal-directed sequence of actions, In Experim ent 3, DAT subjects acquired a more complex action-based sequence and maintained it accurately over a short period of time. It is concluded that the provision of contextual support at encoding and at retrieval can enhance residual memory in individuals with DAT.