A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Queen Margaret University

investigation, achieving the second highest learning score (although he only
remembered 49% of this information), whereas C11 was one of the youngest
(aged 45;03 at the time of the investigation) but was ranked 12 th having learned
the least amount of new information. While P3 was ranked last in the amount of
information retained from the training sessions (retaining 49% of information
originally learned) this was not true for all older participants. C3 who was the
third oldest participant, ranked third in the amount of information retained i.e.
74%. Therefore a blanket statement cannot be made regarding older people’s
ability to retain newly learned vocabulary.
6.3.1.2 The impact of education on the learning of new vocabulary
The level of education that a person has experienced throughout their lifespan is
another factor in the literature relating to the recovery of language function for
which equivocal findings have been reported (see section 2.6.1.2). Research
suggests that the more education that a person experiences, the greater the
complexity and number of neuronal patterns that they develop in the language
areas of the brain. However it has not yet been ascertained if this complexity is
as a direct result of the education experience itself (Jacobs et al., 1993b).
Additional research indicates that the education experience develops skills
required for learning, such as planning, memorising and problem solving
(Robertson 1999). The number of years of formal education experienced by
participants with aphasia in the main investigation varied from nine to 21.5
years. It was therefore predicted that participants with a greater number of
years in education would demonstrate better learning of the new vocabulary
than participants with less education experience. The hypothesis ‘the number of
years in education will correlate positively with the recall of new vocabulary’ was
supported for both immediate (r = +.869; p