An analysis of capacities for performance of mental defectives skilled in lace-making. II. Performance pattern in selected non-standardized tests

Abstract

11 lace-makers and 7 failures at lace-making, whose IQ's were 56 or below, performed five tasks: braiding (given only to the lace-makers) and mirror drawing, which were preliminary to marking, card sorting, and tapping. These tests consisted of a basic performance which was interfered with by the performance of a slightly different task, following which the basic task was resumed. The lace-makers did relatively better on return to the familiar (basic) task than on the new tasks. The reverse was true of the failures. A control group of non-lace-makers, matched for MA and CA with the lace-makers and failures, performed the marking tests. Part of the control group gained on return to the familiar task and part lost, as would be expected if the original results were due not to practice in lace-making but to some more fundamental difference between the lace-makers and the failures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)