Effects of text organization on memory: Test of a cognitive effort hypothesis with limited exposure time

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Abstract
Cirilo and Foss (1980) found that subjects spent more time reading important information than unimportant information in 12 stories. Important information was also free recalled better, reconfirming the ‘levels effect’. The reading time differences are consistent with a processing time hypothesis for the levels effect. This paper reports three experiments that support an alternative hypothesis based on cognitive effort. In Experiment 1, Cirilo and Foss's reading time findings were replicated. Then the subject‐controlled reading times observed in Experiment 1 were used in Experiments 2 and 3 to limit exposure times for important information to values less than those that had been self‐selected by the average subject. Experiment 2 showed that the levels effect in free recall was still present with exposure times limited. In Experiment 3, a secondary task technique was used to measure cognitive effort during the processing of important and unimportant information. Results showed that responses to secondary task probes were delayed more when important information was being processed. It is concluded that when there is no time pressure and subjects can allocate their processing time freely, they allocate extra time to more important stimuli. But when processing time is limited, extra cognitive effort can be allocated to accomplish the same result.

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