We tested whether changes in attribution processes could account for the developmental differences observed in how children's use fluency to guide their memory decisions. Children ranging in age from 4 to 9 years studied a list of familiar or unfamiliar cartoon characters. In Experiment 1 (n = 84), participants completed a recognition test during…

Building on longitudinal findings of linkages between aspects of teachers' language during instruction and children's use of mnemonic strategies, this investigation was designed to examine experimentally the impact of instruction on memory development. First and second graders ("N" = 54, "M"[subscript age] = 7 years)…

Seventy-six children ages four to eight were tested first in a reward-allocation task in which they had to divide a reward between two stimulus characters painting a fence. The characters differed in painting abilities, effort put into the job, and amount of fence painted. Then the same children's understanding of causal relationships among…

Investigated children's causal-explanatory conceptions of the workings of a labeling strategy. The 72 children of four-six years showed two types of conceptions, both of which increased with age. (RJC)