In a ''utilization deficiency,'' a child spontaneously produces an app
ropriate strategy but receives little or no benefic from it for recall
. Three studies provided evidence for two causes-children's failure to
relate the task situation to their event knowledge or to link the str
ategy to a second strategy, in this case linking a selective attention
strategy to a labeling strategy. In Study 1, 83 kindergartners and fi
rst graders were asked to remember the locations of 6 objects (e.g., a
nimals) from a set of 12 objects (animals, household objects). The mos
t efficient study strategy is a selective strategy-looking only at obj
ects to be remembered. Selectivity predicted recall when the task was
embedded in a story about a familiar context but not in the absence of
this context. In Studies 2 and 3, instructing spontaneously selective
preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade children to label the releva
nt objects improved recall. We discuss the possible mechanisms underly
ing the influence of knowledge and strategy linking and the role of pr
oduction, mediational, and utilization deficiencies in the development
of strategies.