Paragraphing, reader, and task effects on discourse comprehension

Abstract

Interactions among text, task, and reader factors were examined in two experiments that looked at the role of paragraphing, a surface text feature, on the identification of and memory for main ideas as compared to elaborative information in expository passages. In the coincident paragraphing condition, main ideas of the passage were paragraph initial; that is, semantic (content) and structural cues in the text converged on the same sentences as the main ideas. In the conflicting condition, elaborations of the main ideas were paragraph initial. Although paragraphing identified these elaboration sentences as main ideas, the content information conflicted with that designation. Participants read and recalled (Experiment 1) or summarized (Experiment 2) four passages, two about topics rated “more familiar” and two about topics rated “less familiar.” As predicted, in both studies the paragraphing manipulation had a greater effect on the differentiation of main ideas and elaborations when passage content was less familiar. The effects were manifest in the number of times specific sentences were accessed and in how long they were processed. The major difference between the recall and the summary task was that the likelihood of including elaborations was greater in the recall task. Results are explained in terms of a two‐phase main idea identification process and the operation of an editing process for generating summaries.