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Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis derived from an extended version of frequency theory that: retarded individuals relative to MA-matched normals are not as accurate in their ability to detect differences in frequency. The method of constant stimuli was used to obtain an estimate of the difference thresholds based on normative word frequency in Exp. 1 and experimentally manipulated trigram frequency in Exp. 2. The results from Exp. 1 supported the notion that retarded individuals are not as sensitive to differences in frequency as MA-matched normals. However, in Exp. 2 the differences in performance between the two MA-matched groups disappeared. The results were interpreted as indicating that the retarded individual can use the frequency cue as effectively as the normal individual and that the differences reported in Exp. 1 simply reflected the inadequacy of the Thorndike and Lorge (1944) word frequency norms for normal and retarded children. The results were also discussed within the context of a frequency theory analysis of discrimination learning by the retarded.

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Frequency Judgments of Nonretarded and Retarded Individuals

Abstract

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