This study investigated the effects of two stimulus manipulations (spatial distinctness and number of dimensions) on the performance of 24 kindergartners and 24 fifth graders in (1) tasks requiring distributed attention and (2) tasks requiring selective attention. Results suggest that kindergartners attempt to use one processing mode (distributed attention) regardless of whether the task demands focused or distributed attention. Fifth graders, on the other hand, vary their processing strategy to suit the task demands. (Author/MS)