The purpose of this study was to identify cognitive processing activities that produce text learning in the absence of instructions to learn. (HOD)

Presents and tests a theoretically derived causal model of the recall of sentences. Notes that the causal model identifies familiarity and concreteness as causes of comprehensibility; familiarity, concreteness, and comprehensibility as causes of interestingness; and all the identified variables as causes of both immediate and delayed recall.…

This experiment examined the relative influence of positive, negative, and no personal evaluation on the underlining and recall of a 40-sentence prose passage. (HOD)

Contrasts sequential and relational processing manipulations of passages with manipulations which focus on individual lexical items and the propositions in which they are embedded. Finds recall to be superior when readers use sequential and relational processing during performance of individual item-specific lexical processing. (RS)

Using recall for connected discourse processed under three semantic and three orthographic inference conditions as well as a control, hypotheses of superior delayed recall for semantic processing conditions and "reversals" from immediate to delayed recall were tested. (HOD)

Students grouped as good or poor readers on the basis of a vocabulary test were asked to read a story from a certain perspective or with instructions to read carefully to demonstrate that the orientation readers take while reading a passage influences the specific information that will be retained from that passage. (HOD)

Provides further evidence of the psychological importance of semantic roles for verbal learning and broadens the realm of earlier work with semantic roles by using connected prose rather than individual sentences. (HOD)

Investigates the spontaneous use of imagery and its relationship to free verbal recall. Finds that separate categories of imagery and verbal recall reports are not highly correlated. Finds that imagery did not decline after 48 hours, but that verbal recall declined. Suggests that a strict levels-of-processing view may be untenable for ecologically…

Compares high school students' use of analogic and pictorial illustrations for understanding and remembering complex instructional text. Finds that pictures proved helpful for both immediate performance and delayed performance, while analogy was helpful for delayed performance but only slightly more helpful on immediate performance. (MM)

Assesses the effects of textual errors on dyadic and individual learning. Finds that dyads performed better than individuals on recall of text in sections without errors, on recall of error location, on error frequency, and on motivation and interest measures, but performed no better on recall of texts containing errors. (RS)

Data from this study indicate that, with time held constant, underlining is of limited value and may only manipulate which parts of a passage may be learned at the expense of other parts. (HOD)

Study of effects of contextual information on prose reading comprehension showed that contextual information aids comprehension and retention of prose material, with the degree of recall dependent upon the type of information.

Investigates two characteristics of texts--structural importance and text-based interest--that affect what students remember from their reading of biography. Finds that interest has a powerful effect on recall for both good and poor readers. Finds that seductive details and main ideas were best remembered whereas details supporting the main idea…

Examines the effects of prior topic knowledge and vocabulary knowledge on tenth graders' recall of different aspects of passage content in a magazine article about a baseball ceremony. Finds that domain knowledge and vocabulary have independent effects on comprehension and that these effects are on what is comprehended as well as how much is…

This study shows that illustration is effective in learning of both simple and complex stories of both long and short length thus arguing against the hypothesis that illustration adds to cognitive load. (HOD)