Effects of verbal elaborations on memory for sentences in adults with mental retardation

We examined the effects of verbal elaborations on memory for verbal materia l in adults with mental retardation and a control group of adults of normal intelligence. During acquisition, three types of sentences were presented that differed in elaboration of the subject-adjective relationship: a) non- elaborated base sentences; b) base sentences with arbitrary verbal elaborat ions; and c) base sentences with explanatory verbal elaborations that clari fied the significance of the subject-adjective relationship. At test, we va ried the retrieval context by presenting either base sentences alone or bas e sentences with the verbal elaborations. A three-alternative, forced-choic e recognition procedure was used to test memory for the target adjectives. Results yielded a positive effect of retrieval support (elaborations presen t at study and test) on recognition performance for adults with mental reta rdation. These data imply that the retrieval context plays an important rol e in recognition memory for adults with mental retardation. (C) 2000 Elsevi er Science Ltd. All rights reserved.