Generalized identity matching of two-dimensional forms by individuals with moderate to profound mental retardation.
The classic literature suggests that individuals with MAs of less than 5 years may fail tasks that require same/different judgments. In Study 1 we used an assessment procedure that provided minimal instructional programming to determine whether 17 adults with MAs ranging from 2 years, 5 months to 4 years, 11 months would show accurate identity matching-to-sample. Stimuli were letter-like nonsense forms. Eight participants showed highly accurate matching. Eight of the 9 who failed were available for further study. Of these, 5 ultimately demonstrated highly accurate matching after training with standard fading procedures. These data suggest that a greater proportion of individuals with low MAs can exhibit generalized identity matching than previously documented in the literature.
Saunders
K J
KJ
University of Kansas, USA. ksaunders@parsons.lsi.ukans.edu
Johnston
M D
MD
Tompkins
B F
BF
Dutcher
D L
DL
Williams
D C
DC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D004495:Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities; D005260:Female; D005793:Generalization, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000145:classification* / Q000523:psychology; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual