Errorless and errorful learning in people with aphasia across novel-object pairing and word retrieval tasks.
Preeti Rishi, Kristen Nunn, Sofia Vallila Rohter
PMID 40857537WHAT IT FOUND
People with aphasia learned new visual pairs better with errorful training than errorless training.
However, neither method improved word retrieval practice differently. Stronger memory skills correlated with better visual learning, but results varied widely between individuals.
Key findings
01Participants performed significantly better on the novel object pairing task following errorful training compared to errorless training.
02There was no significant difference in accuracy between errorless and errorful conditions for the word retrieval task.
03Errorful novel object pairing scores were significantly correlated with verbal short-term memory and nonverbal long-term memory, but not with executive functioning.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was very small (n = 9), which limits the ability to generalise the findings. Two participants did not complete the word retrieval task because they did not make enough errors on the screening probe. The study used a single training session, which may not reflect the complexity of repeated therapy sessions over weeks. The executive functioning measures used may not have been sensitive enough to detect the specific cognitive skills involved in errorful learning.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that errorful learning is superior for all aphasia therapies. The advantage was found only in learning new visual pairs, not in word retrieval practice, and the small sample size means individual variability was high.