Oddity performance in preschool children at risk for mental retardation: Transfer and maintenance

• Published in: Research in developmental disabilities Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 137 - 151
• Main Authors: Soraci, Sal A., Deckner, C.W., Haenlein, Marianne, Baumeister, Alfred A., Murata-Soraci, Kimiyo, Blanton, Richard L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Ltd 1987; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Attention; Biological and medical sciences; Child clinical studies; Child, Preschool; Developmental disorders; Female; Generalization, Stimulus; Humans; Intellectual deficiency; Intellectual Disability - psychology; Learning; Male; Medical sciences; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Research Design; Risk; Human; Preschool age; Vigilance; Associative relation; Cognition; Mental retardation; Information transmission; Visual perception; Acquisition process; Familiarity strangeness; Intellectual learning; Visual attention; Stimulus discrimination; Child
• ISSN: 0891-4222; 1873-3379
• DOI: 10.1016/0891-4222(87)90044-8

The oddity performance of five preschool children at risk for mental retardation was facilitated by increasing the number of nonodd elements in a visual array. A combination intrasubject reversal and multiple baseline across subjects design indicated the internal validity of interventions designed to enhance the perceptual salience and consequent stimulus control of the odd stimulus. Results demonstrate that transfer and maintenance of oddity learning can be obtained even with individuals for whom correct oddity responding is uncommon. The typically poor performance of young and developmentally delayed children as compared to nondelayed children on tasks such as the oddity task may be attributable to a lower sensitivity to relational information.