Two experiments investigated to what extent schema activation is involved in any facilitative effect that headings may have on multiple-choice test performance following the reading of a passage. In the first experiment, 1,116 college students read a 1,760-word passage on human sexuality with headings either present or absent. An analysis of the scores on a multiple-choice retention test revealed that the only significant facilitative effect of the headings was in the answering of main-idea retention test questions by subjects with high pre-existing knowledge about the topic, as assessed by a pretest. In the second experiment, 94 college students read a 4,840-word passage on organization in memory with headings either present or absent. In this experiment, those subjects who were enrolled in a college course on human memory were defined as the high pre-existing knowledge subjects. The pattern of significant findings was the same as that reported for the first experiment. Thus, the results suggest that headings facilitate recognition memory for main-idea information by activating relevant prior knowledge. (Seventeen references and two tables of data are appended. (ARH)