The study utilized the Stroop Color-Word Interference Test to assess automatic-effortful processing in 47 mentally retarded subjects and 29 college students. The study found failure of control (effortful) processing needed to suppress automatic responses and greater persistence of no longer adaptive automatized responses in the retarded subjects.…

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…

When 40 organically mentally retarded, 33 familial retarded, and 35 nonretarded school-age children were compared on 2 tasks of intentional memory, with mental age being covaried, the nonretarded children performed best, followed by the familial group. The 3 groups did not differ on a task of incidental learning. (Author/JDD)