Localizing the development of ability differences in organized memory

Abstract

Although it is well know that learning disabled children tend to perform more poorly than normally achieving children on most memory tasks, the basis of this poor performance remains unclear. Recently, evidence has been accumulating which suggests that disabled children have difficulty with the basic processes of storage and retrieval. The purpose of the present research was to investigate this hypothesis using a recently developed model of memory that provides a factoring procedure for measuring storage and retrieval processes. In particular, we were interested in localizing the source of the development of ability differences in organized recall in early (grade 2) and later (grade 6) elementary school. All of the 600 children who participated had measured IQs in the 97–107 range; however, the disabled students were at least 1 year behind in either reading or arithmetic but not both. All of the children learned a 16-item list that was either unrelated or categorized using either a free or cued recall procedure. The results indicated that while ability differences were present at storage and retrieval, differences tended to be larger at retrieval than at storage, on categorized rather than on uncategorized lists, and in the cued rather than in the free recall conditions. These results illustrate that the ability to execute purposive components of retrieval develops more slowly in disabled than in nondisabled children. Consequently, it is these processes that should be the primary target in remedial memory programs.