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A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Queen Margaret University

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5.4.2.3 Severity <strong>of</strong> aphasia<br />

While the <strong>in</strong>itial severity <strong>of</strong> aphasia experienced by participants was also not<br />

known (see section 2.6.3.1), it was decided to consider the potential for learn<strong>in</strong>g<br />

the new vocabulary <strong>in</strong> respect <strong>of</strong> current severity <strong>of</strong> aphasia as determ<strong>in</strong>ed by<br />

total scores from the language screen<strong>in</strong>g assessments (see section 4.2.3). Each<br />

language screen<strong>in</strong>g assessment result was depicted on a cognitive<br />

neuropsychology model <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> the various modules and pathways utilised<br />

for each task, highlight<strong>in</strong>g each participant’s strengths and difficulties <strong>in</strong> their<br />

s<strong>in</strong>gle word process<strong>in</strong>g abilities. This was used to predict <strong>in</strong>dividual ability to<br />

learn the word forms and mean<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> the new vocabulary both <strong>in</strong> spoken and<br />

written form. The language sub-section <strong>of</strong> the CLQT was also considered <strong>in</strong><br />

not<strong>in</strong>g the severity <strong>of</strong> aphasia.<br />

5.4.2.4 Rehearsal and consolidation <strong>of</strong> learn<strong>in</strong>g<br />

The importance <strong>of</strong> rehearsal <strong>in</strong> the acquisition <strong>of</strong> knowledge has been<br />

discussed. Mental rehearsal has been demonstrated to <strong>in</strong>voke neuronal activity<br />

changes and foster synaptic connections between neurones and is considered<br />

fundamental <strong>in</strong> transferr<strong>in</strong>g knowledge from short-term memory to long-term<br />

memory (see section 2.5.2). The <strong>in</strong>dependent learn<strong>in</strong>g time <strong>of</strong> 30 m<strong>in</strong>utes was<br />

<strong>in</strong>corporated <strong>in</strong>to each tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g session (see section 3.7 and 4.3.2.3), however<br />

participants were not required to use the full 30 m<strong>in</strong>utes. It would be predicted<br />

that participants who employed all 30 m<strong>in</strong>utes <strong>in</strong>dependent learn<strong>in</strong>g time to<br />

rehearse and consolidate the new vocabulary would learn more vocabulary than<br />

participants who did not.<br />

A participant’s ability to demonstrate the learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the new vocabulary is<br />

presented <strong>in</strong>dividually provid<strong>in</strong>g both quantitative and qualitative <strong>in</strong>formation<br />

about their particular language characteristics. An evaluation <strong>of</strong> the predictions<br />

is discussed <strong>in</strong> the f<strong>in</strong>al chapter (see section 6.5.4). The summary <strong>of</strong> each<br />

<strong>in</strong>dividual’s results refers to the cold recall tasks both spoken and written form <strong>in</strong><br />

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