Stimulus-Presentation Methods and Ability to Shift Dimensions in Color-Form Preference of Retardates

Abstract

A color-form sorting task was given to 40 institutionalized male retardates divided into two groups equated in mental age. Part I, a preference test, required that 8 stimulus figures, varying in color (red or green) and form (triangle or square), be sorted into 2 bins each marked by a comparison stimulus-figure resembling test stimuli on only one dimension. In Part II, stimuli were again presented but with the instructions to shift the basis of categorization. The procedure with both groups differed only in the method of stimulus presentation; one group received 8 figures simultaneously, the other successively. Retardates in general preferred color to form in categorization and ability to shift dimensions is facilitated by successive presentation.