Abstract
This experiment investigated the assumption that children’s learning and retention of prose material can be differentially affected by varying discrepancy from expectation (as established by an advance organizer). It was hypothesized that intermediate levels of discrepancy should produce better learning and retention than either the control or the completely discrepant extremes. Completely disorganized passages should seriously debilitate comprehension and retention. From the data obtained, it was found that there was no significant effect on comprehension and retention due to passage condition. The retention interval effect was significant, indicating that forgetting took place. There was also a significant interaction between comprehension type (literal vs. inferential) and retention, suggesting that the learning characterized by one type of question was retained to a greater extent than the other or that probably the original learning of material relevant to one question type was greater than that for the other type. The results were discussed in relation to recall vs. recognition paradigms and recent developments in schema theory.
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Farley, F. H., & Eischens, R. R. Children’s processing of prose: The effects ofquestion arousal, text complexity, and learner strata on short- and long-term retention (Tech. Rep. 201). Madison, Wis: Wisconsin Research and Development Center for Cognitive Learning, 1971.
Farley, F. H. Learning from discourse: Short- and long-term retention in the paired-associate and connected discourse learning of children and adults as a function of intrinsic arousal (Working Paper 103). Madison, Wis: Wisconsin Research and Development Center for Cognitive Learning, 1972.
Farley, F. H., & Schmuller, J. Children’s learning from discourse: Word arousal and spread-oj-arousal effects in short- and long-term retention (Tech. Rep. 242). Madison, Wis: Wisconsin Research and Development Center for Cognitive Learning, 1972.
Farley, F. H. Children’s learning from discourse: Advance organizer, text sequence, and arousal effects ofliteral and inferential comprehension (Tech. Rep. 265). Madison, Wis: Wisconsin Research and Development Center for Cognitive Learning, 1972.
Clark, C. H. Prose organization and its effect on recall organization. Manuscript submitted for publication, 1980.
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This paper was presented at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, September 3, 1975. The research was done while the first author was at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The research and preparation of this report were supported directly or indirectly by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Center Contract NE-C-00-3-0065, and by the Spencer Foundation.
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Clark, C.H., Farley, F.H. Manipulation of processing and memory for prose through expectation and uncertainty. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 16, 243–246 (1980). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329533
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329533