Reading Speed and Memory for Prose 1

Abstract

The effects of reading speed on the quantity and type of information recalled from text were investigated. Subjects read passages under payoff conditions emphasizing either fast reading or information retention. Free recalls were obtained and scored according to a proposition-based structural analysis of the text. Results indicate a trade-off between reading speed and information retention. Additionally, the information least likely to be extracted during slow reading is the information that is most susceptible to further recall decrement when reading is speeded up. Propositions best recalled tend to express case relationships; propositions recalled most poorly express descriptive relationships. There are no differences in the number of recall errors or general cohesiveness of the recalls of fast and slow readers, but fast readers are not as likely to pick up relations that are implicit in the text. The implications of these findings for the types of processing activities used by people reading quickly and slowly are discussed.