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Memorizing: a test of untrained mildly mentally retarded children's problem-solving
American Journal of Mental Deficiency
|September 1, 1982
Summary
Children with intellectual disabilities and their peers improved memory recall by adopting effective strategies. Solvers, regardless of IQ, increasingly used ideal memorization methods, enhancing performance over time.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Special Education
Background:
- Individual differences in memory performance are well-documented.
- The role of strategic processing in memory development requires further investigation, particularly across different intellectual ability levels.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between mnemonic strategy use and memory recall accuracy in mildly mentally retarded and nonretarded children.
- To examine how strategy use evolves with practice and its correlation with performance.
Main Methods:
- Forty untrained mildly mentally retarded and 32 untrained nonretarded junior high school students participated.
- Participants engaged in an 8-trial self-paced memory task involving ordered recall of letter/word lists.
- Solvers and nonsolvers were identified based on recall accuracy, and mnemonic activity was measured.
Main Results:
- Solvers at both IQ levels increasingly adopted an ideal memorization method over trials.
- Nonsolvers did not show similar strategy development.
- On later trials, strategy use (fit to ideal method) strongly correlated with recall accuracy for all participants.
Conclusions:
- Memory performance differences in children, including those with intellectual disabilities, can be explained by a problem-solving approach to strategy use.
- Effective mnemonic strategy acquisition and application are crucial for improving memory recall across different cognitive abilities.