An information processing model of reading comprehension accounts for influence over thought processes by the text (bottom-up variables) and the reader (top-down variables). Prior knowledge, a top-down variable, has been found to influence reading comprehension both in the quality and the quantity of what is remembered. In this study it was hypothesized that emotion, also a top-down variable, would affect reading comprehension in the same way as prior knowledge. To test this hypothesis the emotional orientation of passages was manipulated to determine the effect on the reader's comprehension. / First, a semantic differential was developed to measure fourth graders' feelings about passages. Then, 75 fourth graders read passages, freely recalled what they remembered, orally answered probe questions, and responded to the semantic differential. Each student read a total of three passages, each on a different topic (families, pets, and classrooms) and each with a different emotional context (positive, neutral, and negative). Transcripts of the free recall and probe question responses were scored for the percentage of correct responses. An analysis of variance using these two sets of scores yielded significant results. Linear regression using these two sets of scores and the scores from the semantic differential yielded significant results for two cases: (a) using probe question scores for negative passages only, and (b) using free recall scores for positive and negative passages together. Correlations conducted with comprehension scores and modified semantic differential scores were not significantly different from zero. Chi square tests to compare the recall of specific relationships were significant for four out of the ten relationships tested. / The findings of this study indicated that the emotional orientation of a passage has a stronger effect on the amount of information than on the kind of information recalled. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-07, Section: A, page: 1721. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76125 |
| Contributors | WIGGINS, JANICE CHRISTINE., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 182 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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