The purpose of this experiment was to analyze developmental differences in rehearsal strategies which may mediate the commonly found age effect on free recall. As expected, significant age differences in recall were found; analysis of rehearsal strategies showed that fifth and eighth graders tended to repeat stimulus words immediately after presentation and not to enter items into subsequent rehearsal sets. Adults, in contrast, tended to re-enter items for additional rehearsal and had larger rehearsal buffers. Immediate repetition may have served as additional massed presentation trials, which are less consequential for learning than later re-entry of items (spaced trials). It was inferred that children engaged primarily in maintenance rehearsal, and adults in both maintenance and elaborative rehearsal. (Author)