The effects of stimulus presentation rate on recall and primacy-recency effects in children were investigated. A modification of Digit Span task used in the Binet and Wechsler Intelligence Scales provided the basic memory task administered to 36 male schoolchildren in 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades. The specific design required children to recall verbally serial strings of digits presented at various stimulus presentation rates. Effective recall would be a function of general maturation and/or the development of cognitive strategies, and rate of stimulus presentation. Age, rate, and age .times. rate .times. recall condition (short or long term) were all significantly related to the number of digits correctly recalled. The traditional interpretation of the primacy effect as reflecting long-term memory store may not be valid.