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Judges allocated the 30 details in a prose passage to the six content categories of abstraction, action, time interval, quantity, appearance and direction of movement. Groups of extravert, ambivert and introvert 11‐year‐old children listened to the 230‐word passage and were tested for recall after one hour. Half of each extraversion division were given a free‐recall test while the rest answered questions. The principal finding was of a significant interaction between extraversion and detail content in their effect on recall. Abstractions were best recalled by extraverts, time intervals and quantities by ambiverts, and directions by introverts. There was little difference between the groups in their recall of action and appearance details. These results were considered in terms of a possible relationship between extraversion and the mode in which information is represented in memory. A secondary finding was of a significant interaction between extraversion and recall test type in their effect on recall.