INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES IN EXTERNAL MEMORY STRATEGIES

External memory strategies (e.g., moving objects) were investigated in 11-year-old children with mild mental retardation and 7- and 11-year- olds without mental retardation. Participants attempted to place objec ts at specified spatial locations after hearing sequences of tape-reco rded instructions. During baseline, children with mental retardation a nd 7-year-olds used external strategies more frequently than did 11-ye ar-olds. All three groups used external strategies after prompting tha t represented the correct spatial locations, and all used the same tac tics. In contrast to expected deficiencies in the use of strategies, r esults show areas of overlap in strategy capabilities among the groups .