HOW CHILDREN OF DIFFERENT MENTAL ABILITIES PERCEIVE LEARNING TASKS WAS STUDIED. THREE GROUPS OF 10 CHILDREN EACH (5 BOYS AND 5 GIRLS) WERE THE SUBJECTS OF THIS PROJECT. THE CHILDREN WERE SELECTED SO THAT THE GROUPS WERE HIGHLY SIMILAR IN CHRONOLOGICAL AGE, BUT DIFFERED DISTINCTLY IN IQ. ONE GROUP WAS COMPOSED OF GIFTED CHILDREN FROM A GIVEN SCHOOL OF 810 CHILDREN, ONE GROUP WAS FROM MADISON PUBLIC SCHOOLS, AND ONE GROUP WAS FROM SPECIAL CLASSES FOR THE MENTALLY RETARDED. EACH CHILD WAS ASKED TO PERFORM CERTAIN TASKS INVOLVING HIS PERCEPTION AND REPRODUCTION OF SYMBOLS, AND HIS RESPONSES WERE NOTED BY OBSERVATION AND POLYGRAPHS. THESE TASKS REPRESENTED THE SCHOOL LEARNING TASKS OF HANDWRITING, SPELLING, ARITHMETIC, AND READING. THE DATA RECORDED ON THE PUPILS WERE ANALYZED TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT RETARDED CHILDREN PERCEIVE AND ACT ON SYMBOLS IN ESSENTIALLY THE SAME MANNER AS DO GIFTED AND NORMAL CHILDREN. HIGH AND SIGNIFICANT DEGREES OF CONSISTENCY WERE DISCOVERED AMONG THE THREE GROUPS OF CHILDREN WITH RESPECT TO THEIR RESPONSES TO THE VARIOUS EXERCISES USED. SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES WERE NOTED, HOWEVER, AMONG SEVERAL OF THE GROUP MEAN SCORES. THIS EXPLORATORY STUDY PROVIDED THE BASIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF MANY IMPORTANT CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS IN TESTING PROCEDURES, INSTRUMENTATION, AND SAMPLE DEFINITION. (GC)