A measure is described which attempts to quantify one aspect of search behaviour, namely, the frequency of referring back to earlier parts of the search pattern or ‘harking back’. In a dialogue, harking back corresponds to bringing a topic up again when it was mentioned earlier; in a problem‐solving task, it corresponds to putting aside one line and picking up again from an earlier position. The coefficient of hark‐back may be interpreted variously as a measure of the working style, of the complexity of information‐processing, or of the searcher's inherent limitations, depending upon the nature of the task. Analysis of data from an interviewing study, where harking back was deemed to show complex decision‐making, gave encourag