Storage and Retrieval of Prose Material

Abstract

72 Ss studied a prose passage under the same conditions of input. Two conditions of recall were compared: free recall in which as much of the passage was recalled as was possible, and question recall in which specific questions were answered. In both conditions, the major interest was in retrieval of the information that answered the questions used in question recall. Questions facilitated retrieval of this answer information from the latter portions of the input passage much more than from the initial portions. Several possible explanations were discussed.