Spontaneous verbal rehearsal in a memory task as a function of age

A distinction is made between 2 alternative hypotheses for explaining an often-reported deficiency in verbally mediated performance during early childhood: (1) the verbal response is made, but tends not to mediate performance ("mediational-deficiency hypothesis"); (2) the verbal response tends not to be made ("production-deficiency hypothesis"). A study is described which attempts to meet the ideal criteria for a test of the productiondeficiency hypothesis. The method used was that of direct observation of S's spontaneous verbalizations, and the hypothesis was confirmed by the finding that kindergarteners are less likely than older children to rehearse stimulus names in a nonverbal serial recall task.