Persistent Use of Verbal Rehearsal as a Function of Information about Its Value

KENNEDY, BETH ANN, and MILLER, DOLORES J. Persistent Use of Verbal Rehearsal as a Function of Information about Its Value. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1976, 47, 566-569. 62 6-7-year-old children participated in a serial recall task in which subgroups of rehearsers and nonrehearsers were identified by means of direct observation of semiovert verbalizations. The nonrehearsers were subdivided into equal groups both given training to verbally rehearse, but only one group received feedback relaying the strategy's value. When subsequently given the option of rehearsing, only those given feedback following rehearsal training persisted in using the strategy. The data suggest that one component of production deficiency, as it refers to rehearsal behavior in children, might be the absence of knowledge about the value of rehearsing.