This paper attempted to offer a theoretical framework on the action of Orienters on initiating attentional processes. (Author/RK)

Defining mathemagenics as adjunct aids that can be used in textual situations to enhance learning, this paper places a new perspective on mathemagenics research as well as on practical considerations derived from that research. Specifically, the paper addresses two questions: (1) Which explanatory concepts--degree of processing, selective…

The present series of experiments was designed to examine the factors affecting the ability of people to draw inferences from a passage of text. It was found that, using a true-false recognition test, proportion correct was higher and reaction time shorter on inferred information than on information that was actually presented. This was the case…

A reconstructive approach to memory for connected discourse is contrasted with orientations that emphasize passive reproduction. Conditions under which reconstructive errors in recall should occur are specified. Most conventional experiments do not satisfy the conditions. In an experiment involving 360 college students, subjects were induced not…

Variables affecting long-term retention are examined: (1) learner history--including ability, prior knowledge and self-confidence; (2) events (teaching techniques) occurring immediately before reading; (3) events occurring during reading; and (4) events in the retention interval, particularly practice effects. The ACT associationist model is used…

This study extended concepts derived from Rothkopf's mathemagenic hypothesis to problem solving. While previous mathemagenic research has established that adjunct questions interspersed with written prose facilitates learning, it has been criticized as educationally nonsignificant because the research has focused on verbatim learning. To test…

College students read passages and answered either verbatim or parphrased adjunct questions either inserted in the text or massed at the end of the passage. Passage review was varied. On the post-test containing unfamiliar paraphrased questions, students given inserted paraphrased adjunct questions outperformed the others. Paraphrased questions…

This paper develops the thesis that the knowledge a person possesses has a potent influence on what he or she will learn and remember from exposure to discourse. After outlining some assumptions about the characteristics of the structures (schemata) in which existing knowledge is packaged, a theory of the processes involved in assimilating the…

Two experiments concerned with memory and comprehension of prose passages were conducted with children from second through seventh grade. In both experiments the major variable was the provision of appropriate frameworks for comprehending ambiguous sections of the passages. In the initial experiment, recognition of theme-congruent and…

B. J. F. Meyer's approach to prose analysis is utilized in this paper to examine differences in learning and memory of text by readers across the adult lifespan. The analysis system is described briefly and compared to other approaches. Several studies are then summarized that employ this hierarchical analysis system to study learner…

In an analysis of a processing activities model of memory applied to connected discourse, 206 college students assigned to eight conditions in two studies evidenced significantly greater recall when provided with semantic level tasks than either surface feature analysis or reading control (intentional and incidental) conditions. Additionally,…

High school students studied a passage to achieve prememorized goals in three experiments. Inspection times and eye movements were recorded in goal-relevant and nonrelevant text neighborhoods. Goal-relevant sentences resulted in twice as many fixations. Qualitative differences were observed in style of subjects' responses to task demands.…