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ACQ Volume 13, Number 1 2011 11
task more familiar topics may improve communicative
success while less familiar topics may be introduced to
increase the difficulty of the discourse task.
Conclusions
Collectively, the results indicate slower, less efficient
discourse with more errors was produced in response to
procedures on unfamiliar topics. The differences in the
participant’s output when comparing the response to the
familiar and unfamiliar topics supports the hypothesis of a
greater level of communicative success when discussing
procedures that are performed regularly. This result may be
due to the interaction between linguistic and cognitive
processes during discourse production and the impact of
the greater cognitive load created with the unfamiliar topics.
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Adrienne Miles is currently working as a speech pathologist in
the area of adult rehabilitation at Royal Perth Hospital. Dr Natalie
Ciccone is a lecturer in the Speech Pathology program at Edith
Cowan University. Dr Erin Godecke is a speech pathology
postdoctoral research fellow with Edith Cowan University and the
Clinical Centre of Research Excellence: Aphasia Rehabilitation.
Correspondence to:
Natalie Ciccone, PhD
Speech Pathology, School of Psychology and Social Science
Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, WA 6027
email:
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