SOURCES OF SITUATIONAL INTEREST

We tested the relationship among sources of interest, perceived intere st, and text recall. Sources of interest referred to factors (e.g., ea se of comprehension) that evoke feelings of interest in a text. Percei ved interest referred to the feeling of interest itself. A factor anal ysis revealed six different sources of interest. Of these, ease of com prehension and vividness explained 45% of the variance in perceived in terest. In turn, perceived interest explained 18% of the variance in t ext recall; however, only ease of comprehension was related to recall once perceived interest was controlled statistically. Results suggeste d that different sources of interest affect perceived interest, which in turn, affects recall. Implications for text design and future resea rch were discussed.