INTEGRATION OF STIMULUS CUES BY NORMAL AND MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN. FINAL REPORT / CLAUDE B. ELAM.

TWO EXPERIMENTS WERE CONDUCTED IN ORDER TO OBTAIN A MATHEMATICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PERCEPTUAL PROCESS BY WHICH NORMAL AND MENTALLY RETARDED SUBJECTS SYNTHESIZE STIMULUS CUES IN PERCEPTUAL IDENTIFICATION. THE INITIAL STUDY EMPLOYED 50 COLLEGE STUDENTS, 34 GRADE SCHOOL STUDENTS, AND 24 MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN (AGES 9-16) AS SUBJECTS. THE SUBJECTS WERE REQUIRED TO MAKE A BINARY CLASSIFICATION OF 400 PICTURES IN WHICH THREE STIMULUS CUES WERE SHOWN THROUGH 20 VARIATIONS. THE VARIATIONS WERE RELATED TO THE CLASSIFICATIONS IN A PROBABILISTIC MANNER. IN THE SECOND STUDY, 128 HIGH SCHOOL, 89 GRADE SCHOOL, AND 110 MENTALLY RETARDED SUBJECTS WERE REQUIRED TO MAKE A SIMILAR CLASSIFICATION OF 400 PICTURES IN WHICH FOUR STIMULUS CUES WERE PRESENT. SUBJECTS WERE REQUIRED TO PLACE A WAGER ON WHETHER A PICTURE BELONGED TO ONE OR OTHER OF THE TWO CLASSIFICATIONS. SUBJECTS WERE ALLOWED TO VARY THE AMOUNT WAGERED. IT WAS ASSUMED THAT THE AMOUNT WAS A QUANTITATIVE INDEX OF THE SUBJECT'S DEGREE OF CERTAINTY OF THE CLASSIFICATION. IT WAS ESTABLISHED THAT AS MENTAL AGE INCREASES THERE IS A GREATER TENDENCY FOR HIGH AND LOW PROBABILITY EVENTS TO INFLUENCE THE EVOLUTION OF A PERCEPT. ALSO NOTED WAS A MORE PROMISCUOUS IRRADIATION OF THE EFFECT OF REINFORCEMENT (STIMULUS GENERALIZATION) FOR SUBJECTS OF LOW INTELLIGENCE. A MODEL WAS CONTRIVED IN DESCRIPTION OF THE DATA, AND SUGGESTIONS WERE FOR AN APPLICATION OF THE FINDINGS TO THE EDUCATION AND DIAGNOSIS OF THE MENTALLY RETARDED. REFERENCE LIST INCLUDES 21 ITEMS. (AUTHOR)

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