Memory automaticity for spatial location was evaluated with 14 mildly retarded adults and 14 nonretarded adults under two instructional conditions: intentional or incidental. Intention to encode spatial location had no effect on recall for either group and retarded and nonretarded subjects did not differ in recall of spatial location. (Author/DB)

Research has suggested that memory performance may be related to the extent of stimulus processing during acquisition. To examine processing efficiency and processing deficiency differences between younger and older adults, four studies were conducted. In the first study, young and old adults rated word lists, manipulated for generation specific…

This study examined the relationship between cognitive style and information processing in preschoolers, and described developmental changes in their performance on a central-incidental learning task. Sixty preschoolers, in two age groups (mean ages of 4-1 and 4-11), were administered tests of reflection-impulsivity, field dependence-independence,…

Comparison for memory for spatial location of 30 persons with and 30 persons without mental retardation found the control group recalled more intentionally learned than incidentally learned locations. The experimental group performed better after incidental learning than after intentional learning and scored as highly as controls on incidental…

The incidental memory of young children was tested for words or words plus pictures that were initially presented under orienting conditions. These conditions required responses to acoustic or semantic qualities of the stimuli and an affirmative or negative response to the orienting questions. (PCB)

Tests second- and sixth-grade students' incidental memory for words under acoustic- and semantic-processing conditions. The findings were predicted by an associative-processing account of incidental memory previously advanced by Ghatala (1981) and indicate that both knowledge-base development and processing activity determine children's incidental…

To examine selective memorization in a scene context in which the expectancy of items was manipulated, preschool children, young adults, and older adults viewed a series of familiar scenes and were asked to remember one item from each. Results for children contrasted with the typical result of selective memorization research. (Author/RH)