Retrieval Strategies as a Rehabilitation Aid for Cognitive Loss in Pathological Aging

Abstract Research on memory interventions for persons with dementia and other cognitive impairments is rapidly expanding, as the existence of this volume testifies. In this chapter, we will describe the use of active retrieval strategies as an aid in cognitive rehabilitation for pathological aging. More than 20 years have passed since the original research on which this chapter is based was published. In the late 1970s, Landauer and Bjork (1978) described a technique designed to allow new in formation, such as the name of a person in a photograph, to be learned efficiently. They called this phenomenon “spaced retrieval” (SR). Their study was published as a book chapter—part of the proceedings of the first Practical Aspects of Memory conference held in the United Kingdom. Today, SR is being implemented as a rehabilitation aid for cognitive loss associated with an increasingly diverse set of pathologies found in older adults. The SR technique described by Landauer and Bjork has been shown to allow persons with profound memory deficits characteristic of dementia to be able to learn new information and successfully recall it across clinically meaningful periods of time (days, weeks, months). Interventions using this approach, in combination with other techniques, can alleviate behavioral problems associated with dementia in real-world settings. Use of SR by therapists in different disciplines has recently been noted.