Processing instructional texts and examples.

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Abstract
Subjects were given one of four formats of instructional information that they used to solve series completion problems. Processing of the instructional information and performance on the test were assessed. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that instructional texts and examples are processed with different strategies. Direct retrieval of a procedure was attempted with an instructional test and was most successful when the name of the procedure was provided, rather than the component steps. Analogical processing was used when an example was given. In the process of inferring a rule and mapping the example rule on to the test items, (a) subjects looked back at the example more often than at the instructional text, and (b) practice effects were most evident for subjects given an example, suggesting that the example but not the instruction procedure was being modified in the course of the test. These results suggest that, even for a relatively easy task with a familiar procedure, initial processing and subsequent performance can be affected by the format of the instructional information.

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