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Previous work has revealed that the ability to strategically en-code high-value information may improve gradually over de-velopment as cognitive control mechanisms mature. However,studies of value-directed memory have relied on explicit cuesof information value, which are rarely present in real-worldcontexts. Here, using a novel fMRI paradigm, we examinedwhether individuals across a wide age range (N = 90; ages 8– 25 years) could learn the value of information from expe-rience and use learned value signals to strategically modulatememory. We found that memory prioritization for high-valueinformation improved across development, and was supportedby increased engagement of the caudate and prefrontal cortexduring both encoding and retrieval of high-value information.Our results suggest that across development, the dynamic ad-justment of memory based on the statistics of the environmentis supported by a wide network of brain regions involved inboth the recognition and use of information value.

Intervening on causal systems can illuminate their underlyingstructures. Past work has shown that, relative to adults, youngchildren often make intervention decisions that confirm sin-gle hypotheses rather than those that discriminate alternativehypotheses. Here, we investigated how the ability to make in-formative intervention decisions changes across development.Ninety participants between the ages of 7 and 25 completed40 different puzzles in which they had to intervene on vari-ous causal systems to determine their underlying structures.We found that the use of discriminatory strategies increasedthrough adolescence and plateaued into adulthood. Our resultsidentify a clear developmental trend in causal reasoning, andhighlight the need to expand research on causal learning mech-anisms in adolescence.

Intervening on causal systems can illuminate their underlying structures. Past work has shown that, relative to adults, young children often make intervention decisions that appear to confirm a single hypothesis rather than those that optimally discriminate alternative hypotheses. Here, we investigated how the ability to make informative causal interventions changes across development. Ninety participants between the ages of 7 and 25 completed 40 different puzzles in which they had to intervene on various causal systems to determine their underlying structures. Each puzzle comprised a three- or four-node computer chip with hidden wires. On each trial, participants viewed two possible arrangements of the chip's hidden wires and had to select a single node to activate. After observing the outcome of their intervention, participants selected a wire configuration and rated their confidence in their selection. We characterized participant choices with a Bayesian measurement model that indexed the extent to which participants selected nodes that would best disambiguate the two possible causal structures versus those that had high causal centrality in one of the two causal hypotheses but did not necessarily discriminate between them. Our model estimates revealed that the use of a discriminatory strategy increased through early adolescence. Further, developmental improvements in intervention strategy were related to changes in the ability to accurately judge the strength of evidence that interventions revealed, as indexed by participants' confidence in their selections. Our results suggest that improvements in causal information-seeking extend into adolescence and may be driven by metacognitive sensitivity to the efficacy of previous interventions in discriminating competing ideas.