Studies were conducted to investigate cue system utilization by three groups of readers--six second graders, six ninth graders, and four adults past the age of sixty who were rated as mature readers. The second graders read materials that varied according to organizational structure, while the other groups read materials that differed in the dimensions of emotion and abstraction. Miscue analysis procedures were used in collecting data from the readers; miscues were coded according to their indication of the readers' use of each of five cue systems. Analysis of the results indicated that readers in all three age groups tended to use the same cue systems in a consistent fashion regardless of the nature of the materials read, that a clear preference for word cues appeared to detract from the use of other cue systems and from reading comprehension, and that the preferences of the mature readers for word cues were neither as strong nor as detrimental to the use of other cue systems as were such preferences among the younger subjects. (GW)