Abstract
Subjects read and recalled texts of three different types: narratives, expository-descriptive texts, and expository-interference texts with high intersentence similarity. Target statements that contained some potentially decision-relevant information were embedded in these texts. Overall recall was best for the narratives, but target recall was relatively poor in this condition, presumably because the decision-relevant target sentences were perceived as being irrelevant to the macrostructure of the narratives. In the other two conditions, overall recall was lower, particularly in the interference condition, but target sentences were recalled significantly better. The recall of incidental, potentially decision-relevant information was optimal under the conditions of the present experiment when texts were only loosely structured; in tightly organized texts, such information tended to be suppressed.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Anderson, R. C., &Pichert, J. W. (1978). Recall of previously unrecallable information following a shift in perspective.Journal of Verbai Learning and Verbal Behavior,17, 1–12.
Aderson, R. C., Spiro, R., &Anderson, M.C. (1978). Schemata as scaffolding for the representation of information in connected discourse.American Educational Research Journal,15, 433–440.
Dellarosa, D., &Bourne, L. E., Jr. (1982).Text-based decisions: Changes in the availability o f facts due to instructions and the passage of time (Tech. Rep. No. 115-ONR). Boulder: University of Colorado, Institute of Cognitive Science.
Graesser, A. C. (1981).Prose comprehension beyond the word. New York: Springer.
Hidi, S., Baird, W., &Hildyard, A. (1982). That’s important but is it interesting? Two factors in text processing. In A. Flammer & W. Kintsch (Eds.),Discourse processing. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Kintsch, W. (1968). Recognition and recall of organized lists.Journal of Experimental Psychology,78, 481–487.
Kintsch, W., &Van Dijk, T. A. (1978). Toward a model of text comprehension and production.Psychological Review,88, 363–394.
Kozminsky, E., Kintsch, W., &Bourne, L. E., Jr. (1981). Decision making with texts: Information analysis and schema acquisition.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,110, 363–380.
Singer, M. (1982). Comparing memory for natural and laboratory reading.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,111, 331–347.
Slavic, P., Fischhoff, B., &Lichtenstein, S. (1977). Behavioral decision theory.Annual Review of Psychology,28 1–39.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This report is Publication No. 138 of the Institute of Cognitive Science of the University of Colorado.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kintsch, W., Young, S.R. Selective recall of decision-relevant information from texts. Memory & Cognition 12, 112–117 (1984). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198424
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198424