Incidental learning in mildly retarded children

Fifteen mildly retarded children (mean CA = 11 years, MA = 8 years, IQ = 71), Including nine males and six females, were compared with the same number of both CA- and MA-matched intellectually normal children, including 14 males and 16 females, on a Type I incidental learning task involving simple recognition and recall skills. The results of this comparison found that the retarded group learned incidentally, as well as the MA-matched normal group, but exhibited significantly poorer incidental learning than the CA-matched normal group. These results supported the hypothesis that an incidental learning deficiency exists for the retarded group compared with the CA-matched intellectually normal children but not with the MA-matched normal children.