FREE RECALL LEARNING IN NORMAL AND RETARDED CHILDREN

General and operational distinctions were drawn between item and order properties and between primary and secondary organization in multitrial free recall (MFR) to explore the assumption that poor immediate memory on the part of retarded children is due to a deficiency in ordering. Twelve educable retardates and 12 normals, matched with the retardates for MA, were each given 10 free recall trials on a list of 10 letters drawn randomly from the alphabet. Estimates of item recall, primary and secondary ordering, and the frequency of omission, repetition, and intrusion errors were obtained. The results indicated (a) a retardate deficit in item recall, (b) no normal-retardate differences in primary or secondary ordering, and (c) a retardate susceptibility to errors of intrusion. These findings offer no support for the hypothesis that the retardate's lowered item recall is due to inefficient organization. © 1969.