Abstract.—The failure of a learning‐algorithm (which tells the subjects what to do in order to succeed in the learning task) is demonstrated. The experimental group was asked content‐neutral questions, intended to induce deep‐level processing after each section of the passage to be read. Narrow focusing of attention on the questions themselves resulted in erosion of content, reflected in weak performance on a retention test, and only mentioning (as opposed to commenting on) topics in recall. The deleterious effects persisted over an interval of more than two