Earning More Points!: The Impact of Value on Children's Memory and Self‐Regulated Learning Strategies

Prioritizing what information to learn based on value is a critical developmental skill. Across two studies, value‐based memory was assessed predominately in White children aged 6‐ to 7‐years‐old and 9‐ to 10‐years‐old using a nationwide sample collected between 2020 and 2023. Children learned cue‐target associations worth varying point values. Experiment 1 ( N = 77, N females = 39) demonstrated that both age groups prioritized learning high‐value information across varying task demands (Cohen's d = 0.36). Experiment 2 ( N = 77, N females = 34) demonstrated that children also self‐regulated their learning and actively selected to study and remember items based on value (Cohen's d = 0.75). However, older children were more effective at translating their value‐based study choices into prioritizing recall of high‐value information.