The finding of a sharp improvement in route learning between 5 and 8 years of age, with no improvement above 8 years, was accompanied by exactly the same pattern in improvements in executive control. Taken together with multiple regression analyses, it would be parsimonious to suggest that executive control mediated the improvement in route learning. There were improvements in verbal long-term memory between 5 and 8 years of age and also between 8 and 11 years of age. There-fore, verbal long-term memory improvement may support route-learning improvement, but the two do not appear to be as closely linked as executive control and route learning.