Encoding, storage, and retrieval components of associative memory deficits of mildly mentally retarded adults

Using a modified procedure developed by Chechile and Meyer (1976), we assessed the relative importance of encoding, storage, and retrieval processes to overall short-term and long-term memory deficits of mildly mentally retarded adults in a continuous paired-associate task. The basic analysis revealed deficits in each process, with storage the most important and encoding the least important at all retention intervals. Additional analyses showed that retrieval deficits are present in both short- and long-term retention but that storage deficits are primarily short-term in nature. The overall pattern of results suggests that short-term storage is the most likely locus of structurally based limitations of mildly retarded adults.