Enhancing the incidental learning of EMR children.

Type I incidental learning of mentally retarded children was investigated. Four orienting-instruction conditions and two tasks (two and three dimensions) were used. One orienting-instruction condition was found ·to be superior for enhancing incidental learning. This task-specific strategy continued to produce the best incidental learning during a 24-hour follow-up session. The results were discussed in terms of recent memory models. Directions for future re search were delineated. Experimental research relating to various psychological features of mental retarda-tion has grown substantially since the early 1950s (Brooks & Baumeister, 1977). Inci-dental learning, as a topic of study, repre-sents one small area of this larger body of resea rch. Type I incidental learning (Postman, 1964) refers to the situation in which subjects are exposed to stimulus materials without instructions to learn.