Effects of Across-Chapter Signals on Recall of Text

• Published in: Journal of educational psychology 1988-03, Vol.80 (1), p.3-15
• Main Authors: Glover, John A, Dinnel, Dale L, Halpain, Dale R, McKee, Todd K, Corkill, Alice J, Wise, Steven L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Advance Organizers; Biological and medical sciences; Cues; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Human Information Storage; Language; Memory; Production and perception of written language; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reading; Recall (Learning); Selective Attention; Text Structure
• ISSN: 0022-0663; 1939-2176
• DOI: 10.1037/0022-0663.80.1.3

We investigated two forms of across-chapter text signals: "preview" sentences, which signal contents in upcoming chapters, and "recall" sentences, which are backward signals that signal back to previously read materials. These signals may influence readers' recall of text material by guiding their attention during reading. They also may facilitate readers' activation of memory representations of previous content, thereby enhancing integrative processing. In a series of seven experiments, we examined the effects of preview and recall sentences. The results of Experiments 1, 2, 3, and 6 indicated a clear signaling effect across chapters. In Experiment 4 we found significantly longer inspection times and reaction times to secondary probes in signaled than in unsignaled paragraphs. The results of Experiment 5 indicated that backward-signaled materials were recalled at a significantly greater rate than unsignaled materials. In addition, the signaled materials in subjects' recalls were clustered together at a significantly greater rate than unsignaled materials. The results of Experiment 7 indicated significantly longer inspection times and reaction times to secondary probe tasks in the reading of paragraphs containing recall sentences than in the reading of paragraphs not containing signals. Overall, a selective attention hypothesis and/or a memory activation hypothesis might account for the effects of preview and recall sentences. In general, the results indicated that across-chapter signals have a strong effect on readers' recall of prose.