title: Factors of error and effort in memory intervention for patients with Alzheimer's disease and amnesic syndrome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Factors of error and effort in study conditions play a crucial role in the intervention for memory-impaired individuals. In the present study, efficacy of four study conditions was compared in order to elucidate the optimal study conditions: errorless/errorful and effortless/effortful.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 18 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 12 patients with amnesic syndrome received study-test sessions under four different study conditions: errorless/errorful and effortless/effortful.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The errorless learning advantage was confirmed for both Alzheimer's disease and amnesic syndrome on both free recall and cued recall tests. In contrast, effortful learning was effective only for amnesic syndrome on a free recall test.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite the overall advantage of errorless learning, the effortful process was effective in circumscribed situations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. mimura@med.showa-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mimura
authors.forename: Shin-Ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Komatsu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D000647:Amnesia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003463:Cues; D000077265:Donepezil; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007189:Indans / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects; D010153:Paired-Associate Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000187:drug effects; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D010880:Piperidines / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors; D007189:Indans; D010880:Piperidines; D000077265:Donepezil