Conscious and Automatic Processing of Semantic and Acoustic Attributes by Mildly Mentally Retarded and Nonretarded Young Adults.

Nonretarded and mentally retarded individuals, 16 to 20 years old, served as subjects in two experiments which tested the effects of semantic and acoustic word attributes. In the conscious processing task, one group rated each stimulus word as "good" or "bad" (incidental semantic task), another group formed rhyme (incidental acoustic group) and a third group was given no processing strategy. Subjects were tested using a standard recognition test and a rhyme recognition test, immediately and after 24 hours. The results revealed that the nonretarded group was superior to the mentally retarded group in the semantic condition. In Experiment 2, the automatic processing procedure, subjects were asked to name pictures that were labeled in 5 different ways: 1) label was semantically related to picture, 2) label was acoustically related, 3) label was unrelated, 4) label named the picture, and 5) a control group where no label appeared. Results of this experiment showed that on this Stroop-like interference task, nonretarded and mentally retarded individuals process information in essentially the same way. Data implied that the mentally retarded subjects processed words much like nonretarded subjects except when semantic conscious processing was involved.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Year

1979

Author dc:creator

• Sandy, John Thomas

• Mentally retarded individuals
• Rhyme recognition test
• Semantic condition
• Rehabilitation programs

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/7095

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.library.uab.edu:etd-collection-8087