THE EFFECTS OF BEHAVIORAL RELAXATION ON COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE IN ADULTS WITH SEVERE INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES

Behavioural relaxation training has been found to be effective in the treatment of generalized anxiety in people with intellectual disabilit y. The present study is designed to assess whether or not these techni ques can help individuals in more generalized aspects of their life. T wo groups of 10 adults with a severe intellectual disability formed a relaxation group and a control group. The relaxation group were given a course in behavioural relaxation training and the control group were given a quiet reading period for the same amount of time. Each subjec t was given a digit span test, a test of long-term memory and an incid ental learning test after each session. Results suggest behavioural re laxation training has a beneficial effect on performance on tests of s hort-term memory and incidental learning, but no effect upon long-term memory.