Two experiments examined how cognitive resources are allocated to comprehension processes across two readings of the same scientific texts, In Experiment 1, readers read and later reread texts describing scientific topics, The results indicated that across readings, readers decreased resources allocated to proposition assembly, increased resources allocated to text-level integration, and expended a similar amount of resources to lexical access, Subjects who reread the texts after a week delay showed a similar pattern, except that they did not show the increase for text-level integration. Experiment 2 revealed a similar pattern of results with a moving window procedure, except that there was a significant decrease in resources allocated to lexical access across exposures. This experiment also indicated that the rereading speedup was greatest at sentence boundaries, suggesting that the prior exposure enabled readers to immediately process each word. Overall, the results are consistent with the claim that readers allocate proportionally more available resources to text-level integration during rereading because proposition assembly, which enables text-level integration, can be completed with fewer resources.Readers typically require more than one reading to understand a difficult text. Students, for example, often read their texts multiple times in hope of increasing their comprehension. Theoretically, multiple readings should facilitate comprehension because there would be more than one opportunity to acquire information from the text. With each reading, the comprehender would be able to further elaborate, repair, verify, and strengthen the existing text representation. Therefore, if a process or operation is not completed during one reading, it might be completed during a subsequent reading. Empirically, processing times have been shown to decrease across repeated exposures (Kolers, 1976;Levy & Burns, 1990;Rothkopf, 1968), whereas the memory and the comprehension of the material increases (Bromage & Mayer, 1986;Mayer, 1983;Rothkopf, 1968). Although this body of research indicates that reprocessing facilitates comprehension, the exact nature of how comprehension changes across multiple readings is relatively unknown.The goal of the present research was to examine the on-line comprehension of scientific texts across two readings of scientific texts. We chose scientific texts because college students normally have difficulty comprehending these types of texts, and therefore would benefit from additional readings. The question of primary
Two experiments employing white subjects examined the effects of anonymity, expected retaliation, race of target, and a campus racial disturbance on delivered and anticipated aggression (electric shock). Prior to statistical treatment, the data were subjected to principal components analyses, with three aggression components being identified: general direct aggression, extremes in direct aggression, and indirect aggression. In Experiment I, it was found that less direct and more indirect forms of aggression were delivered to black than to white targets when there was opportunity for the target to retaliate. When retaliation was unlikely, the subjects delivered more direct forms of aggression to black than to white targets. Following a campus racial disturbance, there were increases in direct forms of aggression toward black targets, with such aggression now being less dependent on the opportunity for retaliation (Experiment II). In both experiments more direct aggression was anticipated from black than from white targets. The results support the conclusion that white persons have learned to fear black retaliation, but that this fear acts only to inhibit direct forms of aggression in certain denned situations.Among the most salient characteristics of the current black movement is the use of violence or the threat of violence to produce equality between black and white people. Black authors (e.g., Baldwin, 1963), as well as certain black militant leaders, have emphasized that the black man is determined to get equal rights and that white society must change or face reprisals. It is not surprising then to find some anecdotal evidence which suggests that white people have learned to fear black retaliation. A good example is an excerpt from a letter to the editor published by the Northern Illinois University student newspaper, The Northern Star:We are going to ask that our names be withheld from this letter. Don't bother writing in to sneer, 'what'sa matter whitey, you scared?' Yeah, we are. You militants may feel free to gloat. Those of us, 1 This study is based on a thesis presented by the first author to the Department of Psychology at Northern Illinois University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the MA degree. It was reported at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Cincinnati, April 1970. The first and second authors are now at Florida State University.2 Requests for reprints should be sent to Seymore
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