Mental effort expended during the creation of sentence elaborations by fifth graders performing two simultaneous tasks was greater for inaccessible than accessible pairs. The difference was not observed when subjects were provided with pair members in sentences. (RH)

Children in grades 1 and 4 and adults were given instruction to image or to verbalize a sentence in order to study a stimulus provided aurally. Both types of instruction enhanced memory, but results indicate the greater requirements for subject-generated mediation to some degree penalized younger subjects and benefited older ones. (GO)

Examined third and seventh graders during dual tasks to estimate the mental effort required to elaborate accessible noun pairs. Findings indicated that the accessibility difference was limited to the third grade. Findings support a knowledge-base view of developmental differences in elaboration effort. (SH)