| Abstract: | Examined whether the use of phonetic coding changed over the preschool years by showing 40 42–50 mo old and 40 60–68 mo old Ss rhyming and nonrhyming letter sets and testing their oral free recall (item memory) and serial reconstruction (order memory). Results show a large phonetic similarity effect in both age groups and in both oral free recall and serial reconstruction. It is suggested that preschoolers use a phonetic code at an early stage and that item and order memory are sensitive to the use of phonetic strategy. Neither a cross-sectional nor longitudinal comparison of the 2 age groups showed any evidence of a developmental change in the magnitude of the phonetic similarity effect. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
