Speed of retrieving information from the lexicon of mentally retarded adolescents

Thirty-six institutionalized retarded adolescents named 48 colored pictures of objects. Winters, Winter, and Burger (1978) had previously established that for nonretarded adults the estimated age-of-acquisition of the names of these 48 objects ranged from 2 years, 6 months to 7 years of age. We found that pictures whose names had been estimated by nonretarded adults to have been acquired earlier were named more accurately and faster by retarded adolescents than were pictures whose names were estimated to have been acquired later. The implications of these results were discussed.