The second reading is a different taskResearchers Moniek Kuijpers and Frank Hakemulder examined rereading in three studies using short literary passages. Knowing what happens can free attention for how it happensA first reading often carries a quiet burden of prediction. When the plot is familiar, the reader no longer has to treat every detail as a possible clue with an unknown destination. That result does not mean the second reading transformed everyone into an expert, or that it guaranteed better memory for every detail. The more defensible conclusion is simpler: once a story is known, the reader is free to do a different kind of reading.