SEDUCTION OF THE STRATEGIC READER - EFFECTS OF INTEREST ON STRATEGIESAND RECALL

MANY TEXTBOOK writers are searching for ways to add interest to exposi tory text. One method is to include highly interesting but unimportant details, which have been called seductive details. The purpose of thi s study was to investigate how interest and importance interact to aff ect the strategy use and recall of skilled readers. Two experiments we re conducted. The first examined the reading times and recall of reade rs for information that varied in interest and importance. The second was an interview study in which readers were asked to describe the str ategies they used to study text excerpts of high or low interest and i mportance. Results suggest that readers acted strategically, except wh en they encountered seductive details. That is, they devoted extra tim e and effort to information that they found essential but difficult to remember. They devoted relatively little time and effort to informati on that they believed to be highly memorable and to information that w as essential. In contrast to such strategic behavior, they spent a goo d deal of time on seductive details, even though they considered them highly memorable and unimportant.