Norman W. Bray

The Rehearsal Deficit Hypothesis

Publisher Summary This chapter presents evidence to support the rehearsal deficit hypothesis in mentally retarded individuals. Strategic behavior ranges from a failure to use rehearsal to the use of strategies that differ from those used by nonretarded individuals. The use of rehearsal seems to be a more fragile phenomenon in retarded groups than in comparable nonretarded groups. Both younger retarded and nonretarded individuals are less likely to use a repetition strategy when the task constrains the number of times the items may be viewed before recall, but the effect of this type of limitation is more severe for retarded individuals than nonretarded adolescents. Similarly, under some conditions study-time patterns similar to those used by nonretarded groups may be found for retarded groups, but only after exquisitely clear task instructions. Retarded individuals may show evidence of primacy effects, but in some cases a large number of trials on one task must be given, whereas primacy is evident in nonretarded groups with relatively few trials. When accuracy on sequences presented at different rates is compared for retarded groups, rate has an effect when relatively slow rates are included, whereas differences due to presentation rate are evident for nonretarded groups even when the rates are relatively fast. Retarded groups may maintain information during an unfilled retention interval, but their maintenance may not be as effective as in nonretarded groups, and it is apparently restricted by a small rehearsal set size.

Visual recognition memory in IUGR and normal birth-weight infants*

Recognition memory as measured by visual novelty preference was studied in 20 7-month-old term intrauterine growth retarded (IUGR) infants and 20 matched normal birth-weight infants. Preference for novelty was significantly lower for the IUGR group, p

Production anomalies (not strategic deficiencies) in mentally retarded individuals

Abstract The presuppositions of the question “Why are the mentally retarded strategically deficient?” were examined with a focus on definitions of the term “strategy” and “strategy deficiency.” It is shown how typical analyses of strategic behavior focus on the “problem of remembering” based on the experimenters conceptualization of optimum task performance. A new definition of a strategy is then suggested in which strategies are seen as attempts to solve the “problem of remembering” as understood by the person. It is also noted that strategy deficiencies have frequently been attributed to cognitive limitations of the individual. However, because strategy use varies with situation-related variables such as memory load and understanding of instructions, poor performance is more aptly characterized as a “production anomaly” that varies with task variables and the persons conceptualization of the task. By more clearly defining the range of strategic capabilities of mentally retarded individuals, their limitations will be better understood.

A symposium: Why are the mentally retarded strategically deficient?

Abstract An overview is given for symposium papers originally presented at the Gatlinburg Conference on Research and Theory in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. Bray and Turner, in answering the symposium question “Why are the mentally retarded strategically deficient?” develop the position that situation-related variables and a persons comprehension of the “problem of remembering” leads to “production anomalies” rather than “strategy deficiencies.” Borkowski, Carr, and Pressley develop a case for deficiencies in metacognitive and motivational components as the reason for strategy deficiencies. Turnure attributes strategy deficiencies to impoverished learning of “situated meaning,” normally acquired as a result of informal instruction. The discussants, Belmont and Mitchell, provide an integration of these papers and discuss the influence of perceived task difficulty on strategy use.

Effects of Verbal and Physical Prompts on External Strategy Use in Children With and Without Mild Mental Retardation

Effects of type of prompt on the use of external strategies were examined. Participants were 7-, 9-, 11-, and 17-year-old children without mental retardation and 11- and 17-year-old children with mental retardation (N = 272). They were given a task requiring memory for object placement and assigned to one of four conditions: no prompt, verbal prompt, physical prompt, verbal and physical prompt. In the physical and verbal prompt condition, 17-year-old children with mental retardation used strategies at the same rate as 17-year-old children without mental retardation. Eleven-year-old children with mental retardation used similar types of strategies as the 7-year-old children without mental retardation. Thus, strategy use of older children with mental retardation may be activated to the same level of children without mental retardation with prompts.