To assess the importance of visual attributes relative to acoustic and semantic attributes in children's encoding, a 64-item recognition test was administered to first- and sixth-grade children. Recognition items were linedrawings of simple objects accompanied by aural labels. By manipulating the picture, label, and referent in various combinations, distractor items were formed to gauge the relative dominance of the visual, acoustic, and semantic attributes. False recognition data suggest the importance of the acoustic attributes for younger subjects but not older ones, the visual attribute for both ages, and the semantic attribute for older subjects and first-grade girls. (Author)