LONG-TERM-MEMORY AND MENTAL-RETARDATION

This chapter describes the historical development of the problem of studying retention in fast and slow learners. The chapter reviews the information on the long-term retention capabilities of persons with mental retardation. Evidence is accumulating that the long-term memory (LTM) capacity of young mildly handicapped individuals is intact and functions within normal ranges on an array of tasks. The growing appreciation of the extent of individual differences and the varieties of diagnostic subgroups among the mentally retarded population clearly indicates the need for more intense and subtle analyses of psychological processes, including studies of apparent neuropsychological concomitants among the severely retarded. © 1991 Academic Press, Inc.