To learn maximally from texts centering on controversial topics, readers must suspend attitudinal biases in the interest of objectivity. The present study examines the extent to which issue-related attitudes influence readers' comprehension and retention of information presented in an impartial text. It expands upon previous research that has yielded equivocal findings by considering readers' (a) ego-involvement with the issue, (b) prior knowledge, and (c) purpose for reading. In an immediate and delayed recall phase, readers opposing nuclear power were compared with those not opposed to it on a series of dependent measures that involved either low-level outcomes or judgmental tasks. No effect of issue-related attitude was found for the selective encoding or recall of low-level data; however, when open-ended questions required readers to make summative text-based decisions about the issues, their protocols exhibited attitude-consistent response tendencies in the immediate learning phase. The findings are explained in terms of differences in the nature of post-reading tasks and reader's perceptions of intrinsic and extrinsic goals.

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