Unlike desktop computers, reading in virtual reality allows the reader and the information to cohabit in the three-dimensional space. However, virtual reality typography rarely exploits the new affordances three-dimensionality offers. This study addressed the need to understand the contributions of spatially distributed layouts on expository text…

Observers often remember a scene as containing information that was not presented but that would have likely been located just beyond the observed boundaries of the scene. This effect is called "boundary extension" (BE; e.g., Intraub & Richardson, 1989). Previous studies have observed BE in memory for visual and haptic stimuli, and…

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…

Although research has shown that older adults are negatively affected by aging stereotypes, relatively few studies have attempted to identify those older adults who may be especially susceptible to these effects. The current research takes steps toward identifying older adults most susceptible to the effects of stereotype threat and investigates…

Recent theories have posited that the hippocampus and thalamus serve distinct, yet related, roles in episodic memory. Whereas the hippocampus has been implicated in long-term memory encoding and storage, the thalamus, as a whole, has been implicated in the selection of items for subsequent encoding and the use of retrieval strategies. However,…

This study examined the ability of young children to correct comprehension errors, considered to be an aspect of comprehension monitoring. Kindergartners and second graders (N=32) heard a story about an unfamiliar situation, then answered questions which either assessed information contained within a single sentence, required the correct…

Study is a further examination of the conditions under which retroactive inhibition occurs in prose. The two variables manipulated are the similarity of the interpolated stories (similar vs. dissimilar) and the response requirements (recall vs. recognition). (Author)

Previous work on recalling prose material can be criticized for its limited use of quantitative analysis and for neglecting the theoretical implications of the distinctions between verbatim and other forms of recall. Nine specially written passages used clauses and actual words to split reproduced material into verbatim, non-verbatim and intrusive…

Investigates whether 8-year-olds can be taught a mental imagery strategy to improve their memory of prose they read. Results of the study showed that the children taught the strategy answered more questions than the group who did not receive those instructions. (Author/DEP)

Differences in discourse type were expected to result in differences in processing text. The more organized discourse types of comparison, problem/solution, and causation were predicted to yield superior recall of information than a collection of descriptions about a topic. Results from two studies supported this prediction. (Author/BW)

This monograph analyzes theoretical and methodological problems that may have prevented previous research from detecting retroactive inhibition with meaningful discourse and reports on two experiments based on the analysis. (Author/TA)

Organization theory emphasizes groupings of items on the basis of a variety of characteristics, and the role of the learner as an active processor or encoder of information. Research on organization theory as it is applied to memory and recall of prose is reviewed here. (BW)