Response Strategies and Stimulus Salience with Learning Disabled and Mentally Retarded Children on a Short-term Memory Task

Abstract

This study utilizes a sophisticated research paradigm to investigate whether three-dimensional items (objects) are easier to remember than two-dimensional items (pictures). As previous research found three-dimensional stimuli more salient among educable mentally retarded children, the possibility exists that the differential salience of three-dimensional stimuli might even be greater among the learning disabled. Though, as the author points out, the number of subjects is small, the finding that objects facilitate recall by learning disabled children even more than the third dimension does for mentally retarded children has potential implications for teachers. — G.M.S.