This experiment tested whether performing a pre-search task involving either the spelling or the meaning of words modified the way 11 years-old children subsequently scanned a text to find a single-word answer to a question. Compared to adults performing the same searches, eye movement recordings revealed that the induction tasks had a stronger influence on young adolescents. In particular, the semantic induction task may facilitate question-answering by adolescents when the text contains semantically-relevant distracting information.