THIS SPEECH PRESENTS THE FINDINGS OF A STUDY OF THE VERBAL RECALL ABILITY OF 102 HIGH AND LOW SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS (SES) CHILDREN IN THE PRIMARY GRADES. THE HIGH SES SUBJECTS ATTENDED A UNIVERSITY SCHOOL IN AN UPPER-MIDDLE-CLASS SUBURB, AND AT LEAST ONE OF THEIR PARENTS HAD ATTENDED COLLEGE. THE LOW SES SUBJECTS WERE IN A COMPLETELY NEGRO SUBURBAN PUBLIC SCHOOL AND THE EDUCATIONAL LEVEL OF THEIR FATHERS WAS ESTIMATED TO BE NO MORE THAN HIGH SCHOOL. THE SUBJECTS WERE ASKED TO PERFORM TEST TASKS WHICH MEASURED AUDITORY MEMORY AT FOUR LEVELS OF VERBAL STRUCTURE--NONSENSE SYLLABLES, NOUNS, NONSENSE SENTENCES, AND MEANINGFUL SENTENCES. RESPONSES WERE RECORDED ON TAPE AND SCORED AS AN IMMEDIATE MEMORY SPAN TASK. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA SHOWED THAT AUDITORY MEMORY IS GREATER AS LANGUAGE SKILL SUPPLEMENTS MEMORY CAPACITY, AND THAT OLDER CHILDREN REMEMBER MORE UNITS THAN DO YOUNGER ONES. IT WAS ALSO FOUND THAT THERE WAS NO SIGNIFICANT INTERACTION BETWEEN TASK LEVEL AND GRADE LEVEL, NOR BETWEEN SES AND TASK LEVEL. FINALLY, NO CUMULATIVE DEFICIT WAS FOUND WHEN THE INTERACTION OF AGE, TASK LEVEL, AND SES WAS ANALYZED. IT IS TENTATIVELY INFERRED THAT YOUNGSTERS FROM DIFFERENT SES BACKGROUNDS "TEND TO USE SIMILAR STRATEGIES AT EACH OF THE LEVELS FOR PROCESSING INFORMATION." THIS PAPER WAS PRESENTED AT THE AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION MEETING (FEBRUARY 9, 1968). (NH)