Labeling, rehearsal, and short-term memory in retarded children.

A short-term memory task was used to explore the effects of verbal labeling and rehearsal on serial-position recall in mildly retarded 9to llyear-old children. A stimulus array consisting of seven cards depicting familiar animals was presented for seven trials. In Expt I, recall when subjects labeled the pictures as they were shown was compared to recall when no labeling occurred. Total recall was not affected, but for the older CA group primacy recall was hindered and recency recall was facilitated by labeling. In Expt 11, three variations of rehearsal of the names to be recalled were compared. When prompting accompanied rehearsal, recall improved at both recency and primacy positions. When prompting occurred for the primacy positions only, recall was higher for these positions but not for other positions. These results support the view that verbal skills affect recall in mildly retarded children similarly to normal children.