Citation

Kirby NH, Nettelbeck T, Bullock J. Am. J. Ment. Defic. 1978; 82(4): 394-397.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1978, American Association on Mental Retardation)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

623160

Abstract

Mildly mentally retarded adults were compared on both an auditory and a visual vigilance task with subjects having greater than average intelligence. Contrary to results reported by Semmel (1965) using a visual task, no difference was found in the rate of decline of performance between the two groups in either of the two tasks, although overall performance of the above-average group was superior to that of the retarded group. The results offered no support for the hypothesis that mentally retarded persons suffer from a more rapid decay in arousal under conditions of reduced sensory variation. Nor did they support a suggestion that in this particular situation retarded subjects would demonstrate more inattention than would nonretarded subjects.

Language: en