Asthmatic children receiving theophylline or steroid-theophylline combination therapy and normal nonasthmatics were given tests of visual retention and paired-associate learning. The performance of children receiving combination therapy was significantly worse than that of the nonasthmatics 6-8 hours after receiving steroid medication, but not 22-24 or 46-48 hours after medication. Children receiving theophylline alone did not differ from nonasthmatics on these tasks. These observations suggest that steroid-inclusive medication regiments can affect cognitive performance.