Effects of text structure on use of cognitive capacity during reading

The demand that text processing imposes on learners' cognitive capacity was measured with a secondary-task technique; the meaning of the textual materials was held constant while several structural (surface) variables were manipulated. Exp I (36 undergraduates) showed that text versions with si...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of educational psychology 1982-02, Vol.74 (1), p.51-61
Main Authors: Britton, Bruce K, Glynn, Shawn M, Meyer, Bonnie J, Penland, M. J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cognitive Processes
Human
Human Channel Capacity
Reading
Text Structure
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The demand that text processing imposes on learners' cognitive capacity was measured with a secondary-task technique; the meaning of the textual materials was held constant while several structural (surface) variables were manipulated. Exp I (36 undergraduates) showed that text versions with simplified vocabulary and syntax (but equivalent content) required less cognitive capacity to process than standard versions. Exp II (96 Ss) revealed that the reduction in use of cognitive capacity was due primarily to syntactic factors. Exp III (72 Ss) demonstrated that texts containing signals about idea importance and relations required less cognitive capacity to process than texts with approximately the same propositional content but no such signals. Measures of total inspection time and content recall were also secured. In general, findings indicate that aspects of the surface structure of text made demands on Ss' cognitive processing capacity. (44 ref)
ISSN:0022-0663
1939-2176
DOI:10.1037/0022-0663.74.1.51