From the information processing perspective, which is NOT listed as an improvement in children?

• A. Better strategies
• B. Decreased working memory
• C. Better inhibitory and executive functioning
• D. Increased speed of processing

Answer: (B)

In information processing terms, cognitive development means improvements in how efficiently and effectively children process information. As children grow, they use better problem‑solving strategies, their inhibitory and executive functioning improves to help control attention and plan actions, and their mental processing speed increases to handle information more quickly. Decreased working memory, however, would represent a decline in capacity to hold and manipulate information, not an improvement, so it doesn’t fit with the developmental gains described. That’s why the option describing decreased working memory is the one that does not belong as an improvement.