Verbal conditioning in level I retardates: a supplementary report.

Abstract

An experiment was conducted in order to check the findings of an earlier study regarding the presence of verbal conditioning in retarded children. 6 groups of Level I retardates (3 experimental and 3 control) took part. Each experimental group was exposed to the conditioning of 1 of 3 verbal classes: human-designate, animal-designate, and nature-designate. Verbal reward increased the frequency of verbal-class choice significantly over that of the control groups whereas absence of such reward did not increase the frequency. Words describing humans had appreciably higher levels of choice than words designating animals or phenomena of nature. Whereas these findings seem to support and extend the author's previous data, the observed inconsistencies in response levels raise certain reservations about the efficacy of the verbal-conditioning effect among the intellectually handicapped.