Coyle, Thomas Roger.

The development and correlates of utilization deficiencies in second-, third-, and fourth-graders were examined in two separate testing sessions, separated by a one-week interval. In the first session, children received a series of tests assessing self-attributions, metamemory, and intelligence. These factors were proposed to influence the development of utilization deficiencies. In the second session, children were given five sort/recall trials using a different list of categorically related words on each trial and then classified as utilizationally deficient according to their patterns of strategy use and recall over trials. Analysis of mean levels of recall and strategy use demonstrated utilization deficiencies for third graders. Analysis of data for individual subjects revealed that utilization deficiencies were associated with enhanced performance for second and third graders, but lower performance for fourth graders. Attributions of effort were found to be associated with utilization deficiencies for the third graders. The nonsignificant associations of intelligence and metamemory with utilization deficiencies are discussed in terms of domain specific cognition.