Verbal embellishment of half of the paragraphs of an expository text was shown to facilitate free recall of the gist of the embellished ones (n = 12). However, no significant influence was observed on recognition of statements referring to the gist of the embellished paragraphs (n = 26). This suggests that embellishment may facilitate access to paragraphs during free recall although the level of processing during learning is not necessarily affected.
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