
spontaneous verbal rehearsal in a memory task as a function of age
a distinction is made between 2 alternative hypotheses for explaining an
often-reported deficiency in verbally mediated performance during early
childhood: (1) the verbal response is made, but tends not to mediate
performance ("mediational-deficiency hypothesis"); (2) the verbal response
tends not to be made ("production-deficiency hypothesis").  a study is
described which attempts to meet the ideal criteria for a test of the
production-deficiency hypothesis.  the method used was that of direct
observation of s's spontaneous verbalizations, and the hypothesis was confirmed
by the finding that kindergarteners are less likely than older children to
rehearse stimulus names in a nonverbal serial recall task.
