Effect of strategy and attribution training on strategy maintenance and transfer

Effects of rehearsal strategy and attribution training on strategy use and transfer were investigated with 12-year-old students who had mild or moderate mental retardation. Students were randomly assigned to four groups that received either rehearsal strategy training, attribution training, combined rehearsal and attribution training, or no training. Both rehearsal strategy groups outperformed the others at maintenance. However, at transfer, only the combined strategy and attribution group performed better than the attribution and control groups. For students with mental retardation, strategy transfer was enhanced by the addition of attributional training.