Severely retarded children as impulsive responders: improved performance with response delay.

A community school-project class of 15 severely retarded children showed a high negative relationship between errors and response latency (r = -.92) when tested on a task which required selection of the one of six line drawings that matched a standard. Fast incorrect (impulsive) responders on the matching task had previously been unsuccessful in receptive-language color discrimination training while slow correct (reflective) responders had been successful on the same task. The four most impulsive responders were given additional color discrimination training for an extended period under conditions where (a) a response could be made immediately (no-delay) or (b) a 5-second delay was imposed between presentation of the stimuli and the opportunity to respond (delay). Performance of all four children was at chance levels during periods of no-delay trials, but high performance levels (80 to 90 percent correct) were achieved when delay trials were given. Upon changing from delay to no-delay, subjects' performance again fell to chance levels. Implications for training programs were discussed.