The stated purpose of the text is to review and interpret current behavioral research in mental retardation (including that done abroad) and to provide a forum for theories and new approaches. Eight chapters by different authors focus on the following subjects: medical-behavioral research; recognition memory: a research strategy and summary of initial findings; an overview of operant procedures in the laboratory; methodology of psychopharmacological studies; process variables in paired-associate learning; sequential dot presentation measures of stimulus trace in retardates and normals; cultural-familial retardation; and the emphasis on structure in German theory and research. The editor summarizes the areas most frequently researched as well as those most often neglected. (RJ)