Previous research has shown that superordinate propositions and macropropositions of a text are more likely to be recalled. This experiment employed a recognition-testing procedure to determine if these recall effects were due to differential memory storage of text material or to retrieval processes associated with the recall task. A secondary problem considered was the hypothesis that memory for surface forms of the text does exist and is independent of the importance of the information. Subjects' recognition of stories they read was tested by either a verbatim or paraphrase test form, and either immediately or after a one-week delay. Results indicated that the more important information in a story was better recognized in the delayed test condition for both verbatim and paraphrase test forms, but showed no advantage over less important information if testing was verbatim and immediate. The immediate test findings were interpreted as support for the surfacememory hypothesis. In addition, parallel findings for the delayed recognition test and previous recall results were taken as evidence for differential memory storage as a function of the hierarchical organization of a text.