The Effects of Various Classroom Environments on Performance of a Mental Task by Mentally Retarded and Normal Children

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to determine if performance of a mental task by brain injured mentally retarded children, cultural familial mentally retarded children, and normal children of comparable mental age would be differentially affected by various classroom environmental conditions.

It was found that both normal children and cultural familial mentally retarded children performed the experimental task best when secluded visually. There was no particular advantage to complete seclusion. The brain injured mentally retarded children, however, performed best when completely secluded. Since there was no significant difference in overall performance between the brain injured and cultural familial mentally retarded children, the important factor seems to be the type of environmental control.

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