Dimensional Salience and Short-Term Memory Recognition in Mentally Retarded Children

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to test the a priori assumption that three-dimensional materials facilitate short-term memory recognition in 10 educable mentally retarded children. Measures from signal detection theory were used to differentiate between strength of memory and response bias. Significantly better recognition was found with three-dimensional material than two-dimensional representations. Primacy and recency effects, as well as a response bias for middle positions, were found in both treatment conditions. Present findings support Haltom's (1970) hierarchy of stimulus salience.