Information recalled from prose by young, middle, and old adult readers

The effects of organizational variables in prose on recall are examined for college-educated adults in three age groups. If older adults suffer a deficit in organizational processes [3], this may be manifest in lower quantities of prose recall, difficulty in identifying and following the text's structure and main ideas, and diminished "levels effects” (information high in the hierarchical text structure recalled better than information low). The study reported tests these implications using Meyer's [13] prose analysis system to identify text structure. No age differences were found in total recall and recall of main ideas. However, young adults exhibited the typical levels effects,” while middle and old adults did not. This difference was attributed to the effects of current schooling practices on the youngest group, rather than organizational or reading comprehension deficits in the aged.