This paper describes the use of an information-processing approach for understanding developmental changes in short-term visual memory. An early study demonstrated a striking deficit in the short-term memory capacity of 5-year-olds as compared to adults. Additional studies examined the possibility that this deficit might be attributable to age changes in visual sensitivity, visual processing time, the ability to take in a large array of items, and the ability to verbally encode these items. It was concluded that, in all probability, none of these factors was responsible for the age changes in visual memory found in the first study. Rather, it was argued that the child’s deficit was attributable to his inability, or lack of strategy, for encoding an array of items, presented simultaneously, into a sequential form. It was further argued that the encoding strategies which develop for visual memory are not necessarily verbal in nature.