Examining the Roles of Retrieval Practice and Post-Retrieval Feedback in Learning Among Autistic Adults.
Brianna E Cairney, Eileen Haebig, Heather D Lucas
Retrieval practice and post-retrieval feedback improve word-pair memory in autistic adults to the same degree as in non-autistic adults.
Feedback is most helpful after an incorrect attempt. This is the first study to confirm these strategies work for autistic adults.
Key findings
1Autistic and non-autistic adults showed comparable benefits from retrieval practice and post-retrieval feedback, with moderate evidence for no group difference in either experiment.
2Feedback was most beneficial for word pairs that were initially recalled incorrectly, functioning as an error-correction mechanism for both groups.
3In Experiment 2, retrieval practice improved recall more than restudy even though restudy provided more exposure to the word pairs, ruling out a simple extra-exposure explanation.
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What it does not show
Diagnosis was self-reported via an online platform rather than clinically verified, so group comparisons rest on self-identification. The sample was predominantly Caucasian and college-educated, with a narrow age range (18–35), limiting generalizability to autistic adults with higher support needs or different educational backgrounds. The task was a simple word-pair associative memory task completed online without supervision, so the findings may not extend to more complex language, social, or vocational learning contexts. The experiments were conducted online with no experimenter present, leaving open the possibility of undisclosed use of external memory aids despite honesty statements and data screening.
Declared interests
Funded by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation's New Investigators Grant and the Louisiana Board of Regents. The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.
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