THE EFFECTS OF TEST EXPECTANCY ON PROCESSING AND MEMORY OF PROSE

Three hypotheses are considered concerning how subjects might modulate their reading strategies as a function of how they expect to be teste d on the target material: (1) they read in a way that matches the expe cted test format; (2) they focus on information at various levels of i mportance depending on the expected tests; or (3) regardless of the ex pected test, they read to become ''test ready'' by extracting importan t information in the text. Multiple choice and essay test expectancies were implemented, as well as a condition that was given' a nonspecifi c test expectancy (an intentional learning control). Subjects read thr ee practice passages and were given a test that was in line with their expectancy. On the target passage, subjects performed free recall fol lowed by recognition (true/false). In Experiment 1, with a narrative a s a target passage, all test expectancies produced levels effects in r ecognition (i.e., recognition levels increased with proposition-import ance levels), whereas the intentional learning control did not. Experi ment 2, using an expository passage for the target text, replicated th e recognition pattern and in addition found that recall for important information was higher for all test-expectancy conditions than for the intentional-learning control. It is concluded that test-expectancy su bjects, regardless of the specific test expected, are more apt to iden tify and focus on the important information in the passage than those not provided with a specific test expectancy. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.