INTERESTS AND STRATEGIES OF YOUNG AND OLD READERS DIFFERENTIALLY INTERACT WITH CHARACTERISTICS OF TEXTS

Interest may be a particularly valuable motivational resource for olde r adults in a time of life when a number of cognitive resources show d ecline. Perplexing findings from Study I concerning the differential g ain from reading strategy instruction by young and old adults prompted us to consider the possible influence of noncognitive factors. In a, follow-up to Study I, older adults were more dependent on signals in t ext in order to effectively use the strategy they had learned. In Stud y 2 we found that signaling had its largest effect on older readers wh o had four interest in the topic. These data reveal that a strictly co gnitive approach to text learning is not sufficient to understand the complexity of prose learning in older adults. Rather, we must consider cognitive factors in conjunction with noncognitive factors including both text-based variables (e.g., signaling) and affective/motivational variables (e.g., interest).