Everyday cognition among mildly mentally retarded adults: an ethnographic approach

Participant-observation techniques were used to study the everyday cognition and problem-solving process in marketing tasks defined and organized by mildly mentally retarded adults. Observations were systematized in terms of five primary functional units: logistics, activity goal, item selection, quantity selection, and payment strategy. Results revealed five "composites" of strategic behavior used by these adults that represent characteristic ways of addressing problematic aspects of this everyday task environment. An association between composite and early life experiences was also shown. These results were used to characterize further the nature of everyday cognitive behavior, including discussions of the nature of everyday performance, the "externalization" of cognition through the explicit design of settings, and the presence and utility of retarded adult's metacognitive skills.