The paper consists of a review of 24 studies on mental retardation published in two Soviet journals between 1970 and 1980. An introductory section focuses on the theoretical framework for mental retardation research in the Soviet Union with a differentiation between oligophrenics (who have organic brain damage) and the intellectually backward (or mildly retarded). The studies are grouped as follows: those dealing with physical or neurological issues; genetic or metabolic aspects; memory, learning, and problem solving skills; and emotional/affective factors. It is noted that 10 of the studies are descriptive, nine experimental, and only five correlational. Findings which confirm experimental results in the United States include the following: a higher incidence of males than females among oligophrenic and seriously emotionally disturbed children, a higher percentage of oligophrenic mothers than fathers among children who are oligophrenic, and the presence of an associative clustering defect among oligophrenics. (DB)