Examined a theoretical interpretation of recall as a system in which the influences of memory strength, episodic activation, and output interference must be balanced to maximize recall. Children never recalled stronger words before weaker words. As learning progressed, a weaker-stronger-weaker ordering of recalled words emerged. (BC)

Evaluates two competing explanations for the phenomenon of cognitive triage, or the fact that easy-to-retrieve memories do not come to mind before hard-to-retrieve memories during recall. Reports experimental results that support an optimization model of recall rather than an effortful-processing model. (PAM)

Two experiments used causal models to examine possible relationships among age, learning rates, learning opportunities and forgetting rates. Found that forgetting rates declined markedly between early and late childhood. (ET)