Effects of headings on text summarization

A summarization task was used to study whether headings influence readers r epresentations of the topic structure of a text. College students (Experime nts 1-3) and sixth- and eighth-graders (Experiment 3) summarized a multiple topic text that (a) included headings introducing every new subtopic. (b) included headings introducing half of the new subtopics, or (c) included no headings. In all experiments, topics were more likely to be included in a summary if they were signaled than if they were not signaled. This effect w as magnified when the test was only half signaled: Signaled topics were mor e likely to appear in a summary if only half the text topics were signaled than if all of the topics were signaled: however, unsignaled topics were le ss likely to appear in a summary if half of the text topics were signaled t han if none of the text topics were signaled. The findings demonstrate that readers rely heavily on headings in a task that emphasizes attention to a text's topic structure. It is suggested that previously observed signaling effects on text recall are mediated by effects on how readers represent a t ext's topic structure. (C) 2001 Academic Press.