Memory for words in prose and their locations on the page

Two experiments are reported that establish that the recall of the within-page spatial location and the content of words from a prose passage are not functionally independent, i.e., that each can serve to cue recall of the other. Depriving college students of the spatial-location cues on a page by having them read a passage in the continuous form from a scroll significantly lowered word recall, whereas providing them with cues that reinstated the within-page location of material at time of test significantly raised recall of words. Providing the content of answers to the questions at time of recall was found to increase memory for location. The data are consistent with a conception of memory as a constellation of features such that recall of one of these features serves a cuing function to facilitate recall of other features.