INTENTIONAL AND INCIDENTAL-LEARNING FROM TELEVISION PROGRAMS

In two experiments we looked for the reason why incidental learning with TV was or was not as effective as intentional learning. We supposed that this depends on the level of processing in thc sense of Craik and Lockhart where as the intention to learn is irrelevant. Our subjects were to rate a TV film in respect to the number of spoken "ands", coherency, relevance to themselves or to a famous politician. Or they were asked to retain its content as well as possible. To count the number of "ands" led to the worst retention. The effects of the other orienting-tasks were depending on film content. There was no difference between subjects which anticipated to be tested on recall later on and subjects which did not.