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.