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Thirty students with profound mental retardation (age range: 3-5 to 19-11) and 30 healthy, full-term infants (5-8 months) were shown 12 stimuli, three times each. Four patterned stimuli were presented one to a card and each pattern appeared in black-and-white, black-and-yellow, and red-and-yellow. Both groups looked significantly longer at face patterns than other patterns. Students with profound mental retardation looked longer at black-and-white patterns than other color combinations. Infants looked longer at red and yellow cards than did students with profound mental retardation. The measurement method was practical, reliable, and sensitive to both within and between group differences. Results from this assessment method may help determine the most salient visual stimuli for evoking active-alert states for students with profound mental retardation. Individual variability was evident in the data, which demonstrates the importance of examining preferences for each individual when planning intervention. Implications for future research and intervention are discussed.

Thirty white mentally retarded children were administered the WISC-R under one of three conditions: standardized testing conditions, standardized plus immediate reinforcement, standardized plus delayed reinforcement. One reinforcement group earned tokens immediately after each correct response and the other reinforcement group received their earned tokens halfway through and at the end of the IQ test. Both reinforcement groups exchanged their tokens for a variety of backup reinforcers at the halfway point and at the end of the test. Both the immediate and delayed reinforcement groups showed significantly better performance than the standardized testing group, although the two reinforcement groups did not differ from one another. Half of the children in each of the groups that earned tokens scored above the mentally impaired range while only one child in the standardized testing group scored above the mentally impaired level. Implications for the use of intelligence tests for mentally retarded students are discussed.

In the first of two experiments, mildly retarded, elementary-aged, low-social status black children were administered the WISC-R under standardized-testing conditions or conditions employing token reinforcement for correct responding. Token-reinforcement subjects scored significantly higher on both the Verbal subtest and Full-Scale IQ, but not the Performance subtest. Results replicate previous findings with elementary-aged, nonretarded, black children. The same design was utilized in a second study employing mildly retarded, junior-high age, low-social status, black students. No significant differences were found between groups, suggesting that age may affect results when using tangible rewards. Coupled with previous studies, these findings imply that nonbiased intellectual assessment appears to require an analysis of motivational factors.