In 4 experiments with over 2,000 subjects, the hypothesis was examined that cognitive processing variables measuring breadth of declarative knowledge and information processing speed were related to learning on a paired-associates task. Across all experiments, breadth of verbal knowledge was found to be a strong predictor of learning overall and a strong predictor of the increment in learning benefit due to increases in study time. Mnemonic strategy training improved learning but also served to enhance the relationship between knowledge and learning. Memory search speed also predicted learning, but primarily under conditions of high information flow, as a result of short (.5 seconds per pair) study. High-Knowledge subjects and Fast Memory-Search subjects were also quicker at retrieving the answer, when they knew the answer, but High-Knowledge subjects took longer in retrieving an answer under conditions of uncertainty. Results are discussed in terms of a general model of associative learning in which encoding is viewed as a process of generating links by constructing elaborations of the terms studied.Recently, a number of studies in the experimental literature have used individual differences (correlational) methods to identify hypothetical cognitive processing components. This union between what were once distinct disciplines has been expressed in two ways. In one, the validity of theory-based components, knowledge structures, or processing mechanisms, is tested by correlating individuals' performances on sets of tasks presumed either to engage or not to engage the component. This approach, originally suggested by Underwood (1975), has been applied in areas such as memory (Underwood, Boruch, & Malmi, 1978), imagery (Kosslyn, Development of this article was supported by the Air Force Learning Abilities Measurement Program (LAMP), a multi-year program of basic research conducted at the Air Force Human Resources Laboratory (AFHRL) and sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and AFHRL. The goals of the program are to specify the basic parameters of learning ability, to develop techniques for the assessment of individuals' knowledge and skill levels, and to explore the feasibility of a model-based system of psychological assessment. Support was provided by AFHRL and the

Discourse processing involves an interaction of text-based and knowledgebased processes. It was hypothesized that college students would differ in their relative employment of knowledge-based processes, and that individuals would tend to be more "text bound" when they were more "stimulus bound" in another task with analogous processing demands (i.e., an embedded figures test; EFT). Extent of knowledge-based processing (or schema utilization) was assessed by comparing recall of food items from a narrative about a trip to a fancy restaurant with that from a parallel narrative about a trip to a supermarket. Previous research has demonstrated that since the "foods purchased" component of the restaurant schema is more highly constrained than the equivalent component of the supermarket schema, the former supports greater food item recall. As predicted, food item recall was significantly positively correlated with EFT residuals (after predicting EFT from vocabulary test scores) for the restaurant condition, with no correlation for the supermarket control. Other dependent measures yielded the same pattern of positive correlation with EFT or no correlation with EFT as a function of whether performance would be enhanced by schema utilization or not, respectively.The present research addressed the question of whether skilled discourse processing proceeds in essentially the same way for all individuals. The constructive orientation, which posits a process of active interaction between information explicit in text and information contained in preexisting knowledge structures or schemata (cf. Anderson, 1978; Spiro, 1977, in press), served as a point of departure in the search for differences in discourse processing style. It is important to note that some flexibility is frequently permitted in the relative contributions of the components of interactive processing; that is, in some situations one can compensate for schema-based processes by

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The opinions expressed in this article are those of William C. Tirre and Carmen M. Pena and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Air Force.We thank Patrick Kyllonen, Dan Woltz, Scott Chaiken, Valerie Shute, and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the article. We also thank Rich Walker, Janice Hereford, and JoAnn Hall, who programmed the tests for this study, and Roy Chollman and his staff at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, who collected the data.