A familiarization procedure was used in two experiments investigating word encoding in second and sixth graders. Previous studies using release from proactive inhibition had indicated that developmental changes on some encoding dimensions occur during this period. It is argued that the dependence of release from proactive inhibition on deliberate recall decreases its pertinence to the process of encoding. In the experiments, 20 second graders and 20 sixth graders were individually familiarized to a single semantic category. In experiment 1, the children were exposed to either a series of animial names or words designating body parts. In experiment 2, these categories were replaced with positive and negative words. A two-choice reaction time task followed familiarization. The targets for the task were two words: an animal name and a body part name for experiment 1, and a positive and a negative word for experiment 2. In both experiments, children of both age groups responded faster to the word from the familiarized category than to the novel word. Experiment 1 confirmed previous findings that the taxonomic classes animals and body parts are encoded by children, while experiment 2 revealed that children also encode the evaluative connotation of words, a finding that had previously emerged only inconsistently. (Author/JB)