Patterns of cognitive ability in retarded children: a reexamination.

A previous study of patterns of cognitive abilities in mentally retarded and nonretarded children was reexamined for the retarded group. Sixty-seven EMR children were given a set of cognitive tasks shown in previous research to measure simultaneous and successive synthesis. The data were factor analyzed and revealed a pattern of cognitive processes similar to patterns found for nonretarded children in other research. The results were discussed in terms of implications for research on strategic behavior in mentally retarded children.