Effects of verbal and pictorial materials on retarded youngsters' memory for information

The effects of full and partial verbalization of information contained in pictures and of full verbalization without pictures on retarded youngsters' memory for information were examined. The subjects were 30 educable retardates and 30 normal controls. The results indicated that facilitation of recall for 13- to 15-yr.-old mentally retarded youngsters will occur with the use of pictures only if the aspects of the picture which are to be remembered are verbalized. The relevance of the findings for high-interest low-vocabulary textbooks for the retarded were discussed.