RECOGNITION MEMORY FOR EASY AND DIFFICULT TEXT

A recognition memory paradigm was used to study the effect of text dif ficulty on memory for practical stimuli. In the first two studies, pas sages drawn from driving regulations were compared with passages from Internal Revenue Service (IRS) materials; in the third study, material was selected from two psychology textbooks that were rated in differe nt categories of difficulty. The authors expected that in each compari son the more difficult text would require more cognitive processing an d, as a result, would be stored in a more elaborate way than would mat erial from the easier text. After reading passages drawn from both lev els of difficulty, the subjects were given a test that included items categorized as verbatim, paraphrases, and correct or incorrect inferen ces. The results of the three studies showed a difference in recogniti on of item types as a function of stimulus materials. Recognition rate s for the easier passages provide more evidence of verbatim or surface memory than do the rates for the IRS passage and the difficult psycho logy text.