| Abstract: | Kindergarten, second-grade, and fourth-grade children (6, 8, and 10 years of age, respectively) were asked to recall letter sequences on a task that required the use of: (a) a verbal strategy; (b) a positional strategy; or (c) either strategy. Additional trials, allowing either strategy, were interspersed among those requiring a verbal or positional strategy; strategy use was determined from performance on these interspersed trials. The results show that children at all grade levels attempted to use a task-appropriate strategy. Performance on the verbal task showed a more marked developmental increase than did performance on the positional task. A second experiment replicated the first with the interspersed trials removed. A third experiment was designed to determine whether letter names interfered with older children's efficient use of a positional strategy. Even with this source of interference removed, the developmental pattern of Experiments 1 and 2 was replicated. There was a Sex by Condition interaction in Experiments 2 and 3 which showed that males do better in the condition requiring a positional strategy, and females do better in the condition requiring a verbal strategy. |
