Three Information Functions of Headings: A Test of the SARA Theory of Signaling

Abstract

Text signals include a wide variety of writing devices that emphasize specific content within a text, the organization of a text, or both (Lorch, 1989 Lorch, R. F. Jr. 1989. Text signaling devices and their effects on reading and memory processes. Educational Psychology Review, 1: 209–234. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Meyer, 1975 Meyer, B. J. F. 1975. The organization of prose and its effects on memory. Amsterdam: North-Holland.. [Google Scholar]). Signals presumably evolved as a means for an author to guide readers' processing of a text by making the text structure and important content more salient to the reader. Although signals share a common general purpose, they b are a seeming hodgepodge of devices that includes headings, typographical variations, topical overviews and summaries, outlines, bulleting and numbering, preview sentences, and other devices (Lorch, 1989 Lorch, R. F. Jr. 1989. Text signaling devices and their effects on reading and memory processes. Educational Psychology Review, 1: 209–234. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Despite their variety, a recent theory has provided a unifying framework for understanding the relations between signaling devices and for hypothesizing about their effects on text processing (Lemarié, Lorch, Eyrolle, & Virbel, 2008). The purpose of this study is to provide a first test of that theory by examining one of its central claims regarding the types of information communicated by signals.