The Impact of Outlines on Memory for Prose (Learning, Cognition, Language).
James Mark Kondziela · Deep Blue (University of Michigan) · 1985
Two experiments examined the nature of outlines and their effect on memory for prose. In Experiment 1, 15 adult experts in each of 4 areas (rhetoric, biology, psychology, and physics) and 15 adolescent novices outlined 800-word, naturally occurring expository passages. Subsequent analyses found differences between the outlines of novices and experts, but found no differences among expert groups that could be attributed to differences in content-area expertise. Experiment 2 had 24 adolescents read rhetorically good or poor passages with and without preceding outlines. Outlines were of either good or poor quality. Subjects then answered free-recall and multiple-choice (recognition) questions about the passages. Well-constructed outlines were found to improve performance on recall but not recognition. Poorly constructed outlines lowered recall scores when the passages were in good rhetorical form and impeded recognition scores generally. The results are interpreted in terms of van Dijk and Kintsch's theory of macrostructures as evidence that (1) outlines are valid measures of macrostructures and (2) prior exposure to experts' macrostructures can enhance novices' memory for prose.