Strategy Utilization Deficiencies in Children: When, Where, and Why

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Introduction

A main conclusion that has emerged from research on children's memory is that strategies help memory. Older children more frequently use strategies and have better recall than do younger children, and young children trained to use strategies recall better than untrained young children and sometimes as well as older children. Moreover, the acquisition of strategies, along with increased knowledge, metamemory, and functional capacity, is believed to account for much of the improvement in recall during development. However, several investigators have reported that when novice strategy users spontaneously produce appropriate strategies, these strategies may provide little or no benefit for their recall. In contrast, these strategies benefit older children. This age difference appears even when younger children overtly are as fully strategic as the older children. In other words, strategy effectiveness lags behind spontaneous strategy production. We have labeled this poor strategy effectiveness among novice strategic children a “utilization deficiency” (Miller, 1990, Miller and Harris, 1988) and have examined it systematically in a series of studies. The occurrence of this utilization deficiency suggests that the standard view of the role of strategies in memory development is incomplete and overly simplistic. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the notion of a utilization deficiency. First we will define and conceptualize the phenomenon. Next we will examine the relevant research from our laboratory and that of others in order to determine the prevalence and boundary conditions of the utilization deficiency. Then we will outline and evaluate possible causes of the phenomenon. Finally we will identify issues for future research and note some broader implications of research on utilization deficiencies for the research enterprise.

Section snippets

Utilization Deficiency: Definition and Conceptualization

Although strategies have been defined in various ways, a common definition is a deliberate, goal-directed behavior that is intended to improve performance (Bjorklund, 1990). A utilization deficiency occurs when a child spontaneously produces an appropriate strategy but accrues no benefit from it for recall or less benefit than does an equally strategic older child. In some cases, producing the strategy may even decrease a child's recall temporarily. A utilization deficiency occurs during the

Evidence for the Existence of Utilization Deficiencies

We present three relevant literatures. The first two, from our laboratory and that of David Bjorklund, have directly and systematically examined the utilization deficiency. The third includes studies, by a number of different investigators, in which the phenomenon was examined incidentally. These three literatures include a variety of strategies, memory tasks, and ages.

Causes of the Utilization Deficiency

We can ask two perplexing questions about the utilization deficiency: Why does an appropriate strategy not help novice strategy producers (and why does it eventually help them)? Why do children continue to use an effortful strategy that provides little or no help for their recall? Five possible causes of the utilization deficiency suggest plausible answers to these questions. The first four (capacity, knowledge, linking strategies, inhibiting earlier behavior) are relevant primarily to the

DEVELOPMENT OR INCREASED EXPERTISE?

One important question is whether a utilization deficiency is a developmental or a degree-of-expertise phenomenon. We suspect that the answer is both. The fact that utilization deficiencies have emerged at different ages on various tasks suggests that domain-specific or strategy-specific expertise or both may be the main factor. The documented influence of automaticity of strategy production and of knowledge is also consistent with expertise effects. If expertise is important, a given child

Broader Implications: Research Biases

Why have utilization deficiencies rarely been reported or given serious attention until recently? To answer this question we must turn to philosophers and sociologists of science. They argue that investigators in a particular area of research typically share a set of assumptions about the nature of the phenomenon studied. These assumptions lead researchers to ask certain questions of their data and not to ask certain other questions. Consequently, they analyze their data in certain ways, and

Summary and Conclusions

By the early 1980s, a clear picture of the role of strategies in memory development was emerging. Strategies generally help recall and thus are a main contributor to memory development. Young children have a production deficiency that is overcome during the grade school years. By the early 1990s, the process appeared to be a good deal more complex. Although spontaneously produced strategies often help recall, they do not inevitably do so, especially among novice strategy producers—even when

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Darlene DeMarie-Dreblow, Bridget Franks, and Scott Miller for their comments on an earlier draft. Most of the research by Miller and her colleagues was supported by National Science Foundation grant #BNS-8710264 and a University of Florida Research Development Award to Patricia Miller. Wendy Seier was supported by a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development research training grant #T32 HD07318.

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