Described is an investigation of the hypothesis that students presented with strong hints or prompts to answers of comprehension questions adjunct to a flow diagram would understand less than students presented with no prompts. Also described is the study of the hypotheses that a diagram-only treatment group would outperform the prompted group and all treatment groups would outperform a placebo-control group. The research, based on the selective attention model, is described as supportive of the model, and recommends an instructional goal for teachers. (SA)