The present research investigated whether test-enhanced learning can be used to promote transfer. More specifically, 4 experiments examined how repeated testing and repeated studying affected retention and transfer of facts and concepts. Subjects studied prose passages and then either repeatedly restudied or took tests on the material. One week…

People's memories must be able to represent experiences with multiple types of origins--including the real world and our own imaginations, but also printed texts (prose-based media), movies, and television (screen-based media). This study was intended to identify cues that distinguish prose- and screen-based media memories from each other, as well…

We propose a two-component theory of text signaling devices. The first component is a text-based analysis that characterizes any signaling device along four dimensions: (a) the type of information it makes available, (b) its scope, (c) how it is realized in the text, and (d) its location with respect to the content it cues. The second component is…

Retrieval and response criterion explanations of the effects of text organization on memory were tested in four experiments. More target information was freely recalled when it was high than when low in content structure. Retrieval cues reduced recall differences between information high and low in the structure. (Author/RD)

Subjects read passages taken from Bransford and Johnson's materials either with or without the context-inducing title provided. The presence of the title increased comprehension and recall but had no effect on recognition. Activation of relevant information already stored in memory may not be essential to the encoding process. (Author/RD)

Results supported the conclusion that encoding cues will facilitate prose learning when they result in encoded information required by output which would not otherwise be encoded. (Authors)

College students studied text about an imaginary solar system. Two cuing systems were manipulated to induce a single or double set of cues consistent with one or two sets of text propositions, or no target propositions were specified. Cuing systems guided construction and implementation of prose-processing decision criteria. (Author/RD)

Facility in shifting between familiar schemata in a listening comprehension task was examined in children from the third and sixth grades. Analyses of free recall and interview responses showed deficiencies in children's cognitive monitoring of the prose-schema interaction. (Author/CI)

Context-dependent metaphoric sentences of literally equivalent paraphrases were used as concluding statements for short didactic passages to investigate whether metaphors help or hinder prose comprehension. Adult participants' recall protocols indicated increased memorability for passages with metaphoric conclusions. (Author/LC)

Taking a test on a passage one has just studied is known to enhance later retention. This effect was influenced by the type of initial test used. It was evident in the case of the initial short-answer test, but not in the case of multiple choice and free recall tests. (Author/RD)

Third graders produced narrative or descriptive passages in response to prompt words. Results supported the domain-specific view of production, in which content elaboration occurs across repeated productions when there is a connection between the earlier and the later production and that connection is based on semantic similarity. (ME)

This study combined research on conceptual hierarchies and research on conceptual cues, for the purpose of measuring the effectiveness of combining supplementary cues with text material that has been organized hierarchically. It was hypothesized that subjects provided with hierarchical cues would score higher on post-tests measuring comprehension…

High school students read textual passages organized around a semantic, temporal, or random theme. Free recall, semantically, and temporally-cued tests measured recall. During free recall, the organized passages yielded greater recall. For the cued tests, more words were remembered when the passage organization matched the type of test cue.…

The relation between imagery-assisted prose recall and field independence was found to be significantly stronger than the relation between control recall and field independence for third graders, but not for kindergartners. (Author)

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)