A STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE HOW ADULTS ADAPT TO DIFFERENT PASSAGE ORGANIZATIONS AND STIMULI WHICH PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE IN GOVERNING READING BEHAVIOR. A MODEL OF READING IS DESCRIBED WHICH STATES THAT SUBJECTS ENTER A MINIMAL SET OF STIMULI INTO MEMORY WHICH GOVERNS SUBSEQUENT FEEDBACK CONTROL, AND THAT SUBJECTS ALLOW PASSAGE ORGANIZATION TO ACT AS A SURROGATE STORAGE FOR EASILY RETRIEVED VERBAL UNITS. THE MODEL WAS TESTED IN AN ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE USING 24 COLLEGE-AGE FEMALES. SUBJECTS WERE GIVEN THE ATTRIBUTES OF A VERBAL CONCEPT AND TOLD TO FIND ITS NAME IN A READING PASSAGE. THEY WERE NOT INSTRUCTED TO LEARN THE MATERIALS. THE GROUP WHICH READ THE SENTENCES ORGANIZED BY CONCEPT NAME RETAINED MORE ATTRIBUTES THAN THE GROUP WHICH READ THE SAME SENTENCES ORGANIZED BY ATTRIBUTE. THE LATTER GROUP RETAINED MORE NAMES. THERE WERE NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TREATMENTS IN TERMS OF TIME. IT WAS POSSIBLE TO PROGRAM MEMORY INPUTS SIMPLY BY REARRANGING THE SENTENCES. TABLES, FIGURES, AND REFERENCES ARE INCLUDED. (BK)