--- title: Matching Module description: "## Purpose **Matching** is a **long-established** therapy technique that has been shown to result in **improvements**in both **understanding** and **retrieving** words. The most common types of matching tasks involve matching spoken or written **words** to **pictures** in the presence of…" url: "https://cuespeak.com/docs/matching-module/" updated: "2024-10-03" category: Therapy Modules --- # Matching Module ## Purpose **Matching** is a **long-established** therapy technique that has been shown to result in **improvements**in both **understanding** and **retrieving** words. The most common types of matching tasks involve matching spoken or written **words** to **pictures** in the presence of **distractors** or foils. Research has generally found that **improvements** in the exercise are **item-specific**. This means that improvements are **restricted** to the words worked on, i.e. the effects do not **generalise** to other words [(e.g. Herbert 2014)](https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1446711/1/U602636.pdf). ![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-14.jpeg) Written word to picture matching, set up with 5 distractors Cuespeak takes the traditional matching task and adds several **extra features**: - A wider **range**of **options** for matching **stimuli**, including **first letter**, **sound effects** and **videos** of words being spoken - **Spoken feedback** on errors - Advanced options in selection of **distractors**, not just in **number** but also in **type**, including **associate** distractors to feed into work on**contextual competition** in word-finding - **Hand-picked** distractors, to avoid the **ambiguities** often found among **auto-generated** distractors - Picture-word matching is available in **both directions**, i.e. word to picture **and** picture to word - Option to add up to two customised **help buttons** per question, choosing from 12 options ## Match anything to anything The available combination formats include matching: [![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-14.jpeg)](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-14.jpeg) Written word/phrase to picture [![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-10.jpeg)](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-10.jpeg) Written word/phrase to written word/phrase [![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-5.jpeg)](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-5.jpeg) Written word to spoken word [![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-Written-word-to-first-letter-3.jpeg)](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-Written-word-to-first-letter-3.jpeg) Written word to first letter [![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-7.jpeg)](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-7.jpeg) Picture to picture (different representations) [![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-4.jpeg)](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-4.jpeg) Picture to written word/phrase [![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-picture-to-spoken-wordphrase-1024x768-1.jpeg)](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-picture-to-spoken-wordphrase-1024x768-1.jpeg) Picture to spoken word/phrase [![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-12.jpeg)](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-12.jpeg) Articulation video to first letter [![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-2.jpeg)](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-2.jpeg) Articulation video to picture [![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-6.jpeg)](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-6.jpeg) Articulation video to written word/phrase [![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-13.jpeg)](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-13.jpeg) Spoken word/phrase or sound effect to picture [![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-3.jpeg)](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-3.jpeg) Spoken word/phrase or sound effect to written word/phrase Some of the matching combinations you can create in the Matching Module ## Choosing the distractors In addition to being able to choose **how many** distractors you want, you can also choose what **types** of distractors to include. For example, for nouns, in addition to the standard **coordinate distractors** (close or distant semantic) you can also choose to include **associate** distractors. [![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-1.jpeg)](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-1.jpeg) Example of an associate distractor [![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG_D51D79408746-1.jpeg)](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG_D51D79408746-1.jpeg) Choosing distractor types ## Configuring the content In the **exercise settings** you can select the **targets** for matching according to: - **grammatical class**: nouns, pronouns, verbs and a range of phrase types (found under **target word/phrase type**) - **word frequency**: high, medium or low - **semantic category/topic**: found under **sets** - number of **letters** - number of **phonemes** - **first sound** - **last sound** - number of **syllables** - number of **words** - level of **general knowledge** required: allows you to remove items which require higher levels of general knowledge ## Auto-advance to next item In most of the Cuespeak modules you can modify the **exercise settings** so that once the **main task** of a question has been **completed** the app will move you on to the next question **automatically**. Whether you engage this option will depend on whether the user is likely to want to take advantage of facilities such as the **articulation videos**. Given that in the Matching Module the emphasis is quite heavily on the **matching** task rather than on word **production**, you might want to **turn auto-advance on** in this module for a smoother **workflow**. ## Delaying appearance of multiple choice One problem with matching tasks is that seeing the **stimulus** and the **multiple choice** options at the **same time** can cause **interference** from one to the other, an example of **top-down processing**. You can eliminate this by **delaying** the appearance of the **multiple choice option**. You can specify how long you want the delay to be. To do this, switch off "show multiple choice from outset" and select the delay time in "show responses delay". ![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-11.jpeg) How to delay the appearance of the multiple choice option ## Adding customised help buttons (v.3.2 or later only) With v.3.2 and later you can add customised help buttons in the first of up to two additional stimuli in the top half of the screen. These can be hidden initially and revealed by touching the eye symbols, or shown from the outset. Go into the exercise settings and select a "Stimulus 2 type" and "stimulus 3 type". ![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG_854F7AFC2867-1-1024x768.jpeg) ## Lip-reading practice You can also set the Matching Module to provide practice in **lip-reading** by selecting "**silent video**" as the stimulus (or if using older versions before 3.2, by turning off the sound for the standard videos within the exercise. Turning the sound off then needs to be done each time you run the exercise). This exercise works best when the multiple choice response is set to **written word/phrase**. ![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/MM-8.jpeg) Creating a lip-reading exercise in the Matching Module ## Minimal Pairs (v.3.2 or later only) You can create a wide range of minimal pair discrimination tasks using Matching Module. Just select "Minimal Pairs" in "Target Type" and go to "Distractor Type" to select what kind of pairs you want (voice, place, manner or a mixture). You can choose whether the stimulus be a video showing the word being spoken, or audio only. ![](https://cuespeak.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG_291C0B9729C7-1-1024x768.jpeg) Minimal pair matching task