This study was conducted to examine whether release from proactive inhibition (PI) in preschool children depends upon perceptual or semantic encoding. The recall of preschool children was tested in relation to PI release under four conditions involving either perceptual or semantic shifts. No release was found when a new picture triad was shifted by perceptual category but it was obtained when the new picture triad was shifted by semantic category. These results suggest that preschool children might spontaneously use semantic rather than perceptual category for encoding information over a series of trials.