ABSTRACT
The pioneering work of Flavell (e.g., 1970) and his associates especially stimulated research on information processing in children. They particularly focused on conscious and intentional memory activities, studying two potential difficulties in particularly great detail. One possibility was that young children do not produce strategies that can effectively promote learning (i.e., they have a production deficiency). Alternatively, children might produce strategies when learning, but the strategies would fail to facilitate performance as they do for older children and adults (i.e., the children would have a mediational deficiency; Reese, 1962).
