Effect of relational and item-specific information on memory: Youth with mild mental retardation

The present study examined the ability of youth with mild mental retardation and children without retardation (good readers and poor readers) to use relational and item-specific information on a memory task. The experiment used approximately the same procedures as Hunt, Ausley, and Schultz (1986); the experimental design was 3 (types of subjects) x 2 (orienting tasks : theme sorting, sorting for pleasantness) x S(size of sentence set : 2, 4, or 6). Analysis of the recall data showed a significant interaction between the orienting task and set size. In other words, recall of 2-sentence sets was superior following theme sorting, compared to pleasantness sorting. We concluded that list presentation enhanced the encoding of item specific information; that theme sorting enhanced the encoding of relational information; and that an interaction was generated by these 2 types of information. Further, we also concluded that youth with mild mental retardation could make effective use of relational and item-specific information on memory tasks.