Influencing Memory Performance in Learning Disabled Students through Semantic Processing

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether significant differences exist between learning disabled and non-learning disabled children on memory performance for words learned in an incidental learning activity. Thirty learning disabled and 30 non-learning disabled children in the fourth and fifth grades participated. Each subject was presented 32 stimulus words, with congruent and non-congruent rhyming words, and semantically congruent and non-congruent sentence frames. A cued recall test of memory was presented to each subject following the incidental learning activity. The entire activity was presented on a microcomputer which also kept a record of the student's responses. Non-learning disabled children recalled significantly more stimulus words than learning disabled children. Both groups, however, performed significantly better on words encoded using deep level congruent semantic processing and cued with congruent semantic retrieval cues. At all levels, optimal performance occurred when retrieval cue type matched encoding level.