Two levels of stimulus condition were used to determine whether or not the amount of salient information contained in the perceptual stimuli accompanying orally presented "wh-questions" (those including the concepts who, what, where, when, how and why) facilitates children's comprehension. Conditions varied in terms of the number of wh-questions that could be answered from pictorial stimuli: more than one (Multiple Option Stimulus Condition) or only one (Single Option Stimulus Condition). It was predicted that children's comprehension of wh-questions would be affected by the stimulus condition; specifically, it was hypothesized that fewer questions would be comprehended in the Multiple Option Stimulus Condition than in the Single Option Stimulus Condition and that differences would vary depending on the age of the child as well as on which wh-question word was the target. An additional hypothesis was investigated: socioeconomic status (SES) was expected to interact with stimulus condition, revealing greater SES differences in the Multiple Option than in the Single Option Stimulus Condition. Subjects were 120 white preschool children, 60 boys and 60 girls from low- and middle-SES homes. Thirty questions were constructed as stimuli, five for each of the six wh-question types. These were presented in the following syntactic frame: "Wh-word + is + the + noun + verb + ing?" In designing the pictures used, research on the effectiveness of pictorial stimuli was taken into account. Results are discussed. (Author/RH)