Discourse processing involves an interaction of text based processes and prior knowledge. It was shown that college students varied in their relative employment of knowledge-based processes, and that individuals tended to be more "text bound" when they were more "stimulus bound" according to an embedded figures test.…

The effect of cognitive style on the performance of four groups of college students (n=326) who used different strategies of study to comprehend prose was investigated. The cognitive styles of the subjects (field dependence/independence) interacted with the strategies of study and seem to affect performance on comprehension of prose at posttest.…

Previous research conducted from a schema theory perspective has neglected those instances where the reader is confronted with unfamiliar text. This issue is addressed, and initial results on training students to acquire and use form schema in processing relatively unfamiliar descriptive prose are presented. Thirty-two college students were…

Two experiments examined the effects of embedded and intact (outline) headings on the processing of complex text material by college students. Results indicated that embedded headings reliably improved delayed test performance. It was further found that instructions in the use of headings as processing aids facilitated test performance. (Author/PN)

Field-independent and dependent students read or took notes on a logically organized or scrambed article. Field-independent students scored better than field-dependent students on items of high structural importance to the meaning of the passage. Cognitive style effects on material of low structural importance were not significant. (Author/RD)