Cognitive Maturity and the Questioning Strategies Used by Learning Disabled and Normal Subjects: A Comparative Study

The investigators used the Twenty Questions game to examine differences in cognitive maturity and questioning strategies between 44 matched normal and learning disabled subjects. Subjects were subdivided into three groups, (prior, transition, and formal operations) on the basis of their chronological age and corresponding theoretical Piagetian cognitive maturity level. Group differences were statistically analysed using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test. Results revealed non-significant differences for the learning disabled and normal prior and transition groups. The learning disabled and normal children in the formal operations groups, however, differed significantly in terms of the cognitive maturity of their strategy utilization during the Twenty Questions task. Implications for cognitive strategy-training programmes with adolescents are examined in the light of the findings.