HAGEN, JOHN W., and KAIL, ROBERT V., JR. Facilitation and Distraction in Short-Term Memory. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1973, 44, 831-836. Children's short-term memory was studied under 2 experimental conditions: 1 in which recall was expected to be facilitated due to the provision of a study period and 1 in which a distracting task was imposed that was expected to interfere with recall. 40 subjects at each of 2 age levels, 7 and 11 years, were tested in a serial-position recall task in a control as well as in 1 of the experimental conditions. Overall, recall was higher at the older than at the younger age level. In the facilitation condition, recall improved for the older children only, especially at the primacy positions. In the distraction condition, recall declined and performance for the older age level did not differ from that of the younger. The results were discussed in relation to the development of rehearsal strategies.