THE EFFECTS OF HEADINGS IN TEXT ON RECALL, SEARCH AND RETRIEVAL

Summary. This paper summarises the results from nine experiments on headings. The experiments centre on three main variables (i) the purpose of the task (recall, search or retrieval from familiar and unfamiliar text); (ii) the position of the headings (marginal or embedded); and (iii) the nature of the headings (statements or questions). The results showed that headings aided recall, search and retrieval from the text used in these experiments, but that the position of the headings (marginal or embedded) had no effect. The kind of headings (questions or statements) had no differential effect with readers of different ability but low-ability participants appeared to do better with headings as questions in the recall tasks.