ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the memory performance of kindergarten and second grade children in two conditions, a shopping game and a memory test. It also investigates the effects of repetition, situation and the number of adults. The adverse effect that visual and auditory distractions exert on children's recall performance has been shown by J. W. Hagen. A number of children were reluctant to take part in the recall task as it disrupted their on-going classroom activities and many children appeared to devote their attention to other children's classroom activities, rather than to the recall task. The significant main effect for number of list presentations indicates that both age groups of children were able to benefit from the list being repeated once. A. L. Brown and J. DeLoache and White have also commented on the effects of context and, in particular, have made reference to the negative effects of laboratory tasks on young children's cognitive performance.
