Effects of different learning methods for instrumental activities of daily living in patients with Alzheimer's dementia: a pilot study.

We examined whether errorless learning (EL) and learning by modeling (LM) were more advantageous than trial and error learning (TEL) in the acquisition of instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) in Alzheimer's dementia (AD) patients (n = 14). Using a counterbalanced within-subject design, participants performed 3 learning conditions. EL consisted of straightforward prompts before any action, LM focused on the modeling of each step of the tasks and standard TEL without cues was used as a control condition.