Much recent cognitive and artificial intelligence research has focused on the development of "schema theory." This theory supposes the existence of knowledge and memory structures that encode prototypical descriptions of familiar concepts. Schema theory has developed in a scientific environment that stresses interdisciplinary approaches…

The paper consists of a review of 24 studies on mental retardation published in two Soviet journals between 1970 and 1980. An introductory section focuses on the theoretical framework for mental retardation research in the Soviet Union with a differentiation between oligophrenics (who have organic brain damage) and the intellectually backward (or…