Capturing the effect of a title on multiple levels of comprehension

Researchers have manipulated text comprehension by creating texts that require a title to be understood, butthe source of the comprehension deficit has not been fully examined. We created comprehension quizzes for these texts that measure the surface form, textbase, and situation model. In three experiments, participants read passages with or without a title and then answered quiz questions. Results showed that the absence of a title influenced theaccuracy rate of answering situation model questions more than answering surface form or textbase questions. This suggests that the situation model is the primary source o f difficulty for these texts. These passages and quizzes can beused in future research that requires controlled manipulation and measurement of situation level comprehension.