Episodic Transfer and Automaticity: Integration of Data-Driven and Conceptually-Driven Processing in Rereading

We propose that data-driven and conceptually-driven processing become integrated to form an episodic representation that mediates transfer to later reading and memory tasks. These experiments explored conditions that produce visual script specificity for episodic transfer. Earlier work suggested that script sensitivity is reliably found only when the script is unusual or difficult to read, leading some researchers to suggest that such transfer occurs only during unskilled reading. These studies, however, demonstrate reliable script sensitivity in an easy, semantically based reading task using normal scripts. Transfer to the second occurrence is harmed by a change in script when the subject's task is to silently read and answer short questions. No such script sensitivity is observed when the task is to read the questions aloud on each occurrence. The data are discussed in terms of automatic processing when reading is backgrounded in the service of a semantic task.