The effects of content schemata, embodying the reader's existing knowledge about a topic, on reading comprehension were examined in two experiments in which high school and college students were instructed to take a distinctive point of view while reading and recalling a story. Perspectives assigned before reading, shortly after reading, and long after reading all had substantial effects on recall. The results were interpreted to mean that the schema brought into play by the perspective instructions selectively enhances encoding when operative during reading and selectively enhances retrieval when operative during attempts at recall. The schema operative during reading appears to influence not only the likelihood that certain text elements will be learned but also their longevity in memory. (Author/DF)