ABSTRACT
Surveys of laboratory research concerned with the learning of retarded children frequently contain comments about the scarcity of studies employing classical conditioning and the methodological difficulties involved in obtaining such data. The variation of stimulus parameters, reinforcement contingencies, and the temporal relationships among stimuli can all influence the attainable asymptotic level of conditioning. Comparing populations under optimal conditions may preclude picking up major differences that might appear under nonoptimal or subject overload conditions. The advantages of the procedural characteristics of classical conditioning in predicting or evaluating intellectual deficit are obvious when dealing with wide age and IQ ranges. Additional methodological considerations make the classical eyelid conditioning paradigm attractive for use with infants and very young or handicapped children. The conditioned reflex is one of the simplest learning units, one that may underlie more complex behavior. The great majority of eyelid-conditioning studies involving retardates have employed simple single-cue conditioning.
