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A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Queen Margaret University

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5.17 SUMMARY<br />

The first part <strong>of</strong> this chapter reported f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs that established that people with<br />

aphasia were able to learn new vocabulary despite differ<strong>in</strong>g levels <strong>of</strong> severity <strong>of</strong><br />

aphasia. All twelve participants took part <strong>in</strong> the four tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g and immediate recall<br />

sessions. The abilities <strong>of</strong> participants to demonstrate learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> the new<br />

vocabulary varied from learn<strong>in</strong>g all 20 new words to no new words for cold recall<br />

assessments (both spoken and written). Due to the nature <strong>of</strong> aphasia some<br />

participants were unable to demonstrate their learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> spoken and /or written<br />

form. However, the various assessments based on the cognitive<br />

neuropsychology approach facilitated the demonstration <strong>of</strong> this learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> ways<br />

other than spoken or written recall and provided evidence that every participant<br />

learned some <strong>of</strong> the new vocabulary. Learn<strong>in</strong>g abilities ranged from 15% to 99%<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>formation learned about the new words for immediate recall tasks (i.e. raw<br />

score total <strong>of</strong> 49 to 318 from a total maximum score <strong>of</strong> 320 with the exception <strong>of</strong><br />

P3 whose maximum score was 280). These assessment tasks were repeated<br />

three to five days follow<strong>in</strong>g the f<strong>in</strong>al tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g session to measure the extent <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>in</strong>formation that was reta<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> long-term memory (delayed recall). Ten<br />

participants partook <strong>in</strong> delayed recall assessments (C10 and C11 decl<strong>in</strong>ed) and<br />

performance <strong>in</strong>dicated that retention <strong>of</strong> orig<strong>in</strong>al <strong>in</strong>formation learned ranged from<br />

49% to 83% (i.e. raw score total <strong>of</strong> 56 to 263.5 from a total maximum score <strong>of</strong><br />

320 with the exception <strong>of</strong> P3 whose maximum possible score was 280).<br />

The pr<strong>of</strong>iles <strong>of</strong> the 12 participants were then presented <strong>in</strong>dividually. As can be<br />

seen <strong>in</strong> the preced<strong>in</strong>g personal pr<strong>of</strong>ile tables (see sections 5.5 to 5.16), there<br />

was a broad range <strong>of</strong> age, educational and employment experience among<br />

participants. Furthermore, there was a wide variety <strong>of</strong> severity <strong>of</strong> aphasia and a<br />

range <strong>of</strong> language abilities. The cognitive abilities and emotional status <strong>of</strong><br />

participants also varied considerably. Predictions were made regard<strong>in</strong>g the<br />

positive and negative impact <strong>of</strong> various factors on the ability <strong>of</strong> participants to<br />

learn the new vocabulary based on the literature. However, there were many<br />

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