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Eight experiments evaluated a core assumption of several theories of text processing, the shared resource assumption, which states that component text processes share limited processing resources. Short texts each contained two critical sentences that together warranted a causal inference. The syntactic structure of the second sentence was either more or less difficult to parse. Results from a lexical decision task suggested that readers formed the causal inferences when the syntactic structure was less difficult to parse but that inferencing was constrained when syntactic structure was more difficult. Follow-up experiments suggested that this interference was not due to inferior output of ...

In an effort to understand the impact of designing for digital genres on users' mental representations of structure, a two-phase study was conducted. In phase 1, six expert news readers and a panel of HCI experts were solicited for input regarding genre-conforming and genre-violating web news page design, navigation, and story categorization. In phase 2, a longitudinal experiment with a group of 25 novice web news readers who were exposed to one of the two designs over 5 sessions is reported. During these sessions a variety of user data were captured, including: comprehension (recall, recognition), usability (time on task, accuracy, ...

This research investigates the role played on shallow and deep levels of comprehension by textual changes that are aimed at: (a) improving the relationships within text ideas, and (b) producing better links between text ideas and the reader's knowledge. Four versions of a long physics passage were elaborated combining both kinds of textual changes. Four groups of tenth graders were each given one of the four versions. Different measures representative of these levels of comprehension were taken: getting main ideas, recall, and problem solving. The results indicated that: (a) main idea performance was affected by improving the relationships within text ...

We examined participants' reading and recall of informed consent documents presented via paper or computer. Within each presentation medium, we presented the document as a continuous or paginated document to simulate common computer and paper presentation formats. Participants took slightly longer to read paginated and computer informed consent documents and recalled slightly more information from the paginated documents. We concluded that obtaining informed consent online is not substantially different than obtaining it via paper presentation. We also provide suggestions for improving informed consent - in both face-to-face and online experiments. ...

Welke tekstkenmerken beïnvloeden het tekstbegrip en de tekstwaardering van zwakke lezers, zoals vmbo-leerlingen? Om tot een antwoord op deze vraag te komen is eerst een analyse uitgevoerd op de geschiedenisleesboeken voor het vmbo en zijn er gesprekken gevoerd met uitgevers en vmbo-docenten. Uit deze gesprekken kwam naar voren dat uitgevers verschillende intuïties hebben ver het effect van bepaalde structuur- en stijlkenmerken in studieteksten. Om te achterhalen welke intuïties de juiste zijn, hebben we twee experimenten uitgevoerd. Met een beperkt aantal teksten. IN het eerst experiment werd het effect vn de structuur- en stijlkenmerken op de tekstwaardering van basisberoepsgerichte vmbo-leerlingen (n=23) ...

Elderly people seem to encounter more problems than people from other age groups do, when using consumer electronics products and their accompanying manuals. This may be due to the absence of some kinds of information. In this study the effects of the absence of different information types in instructions on action performance were explored for different age groups. Younger (aged 20-30 y.) and elderly (aged 60-70 y.) participants installed a VCR with the help of the manual, while working aloud. The absence of goal information, consequence information and identification information in the instructions proved to have a negative effect on ...

Two studies are reported that explore the role of text coherence in the comprehension of science texts, using the construction-integration model of text comprehension. Experiment 1 utilized free recall, written questions, & key-word sorting by junior high students (N = 36, aged 11-15), & found that globally coherent text is most advantageous. Experiment 2 utilized the same method (N = 56, aged 11-15) to explore interactions among local & global texts; it was found that those with little prior knowledge of a text benefit most from a clear text, but that those with prior knowledge can gain greater benefit from ...

Two studies are reported that explore the role of text coherence in the comprehension of science texts, using the construction-integration model of text comprehension. Experiment 1 utilized free recall, written questions, & key-word sorting by junior high students (N = 36, aged 11-15), & found that globally coherent text is most advantageous. Experiment 2 utilized the same method (N = 56, aged 11-15) to explore interactions among local & global texts; it was found that those with little prior knowledge of a text benefit most from a clear text, but that those with prior knowledge can gain greater benefit from ...

This study replicated the findings reported by D. S. McNamara et al (1996) on the interactive effects of prior knowledge and text coherence on learning in adult readers. Using high- (HCTs) and low-coherence history texts (LCTs), the comprehension of 80 college students was measured via free recall, multiple-choice questions, and a keyword sorting task in Exp 1; and via open-ended questions and the sorting task both immediately and after a 1-wk delay in Exp 2. An advantage was found for the HCT on recall and multiple-choice questions. However, high-knowledge readers performed better on the sorting task after reading the LCT. ...

This study replicated the findings reported by D. S. McNamara et al (1996) on the interactive effects of prior knowledge and text coherence on learning in adult readers. Using high- (HCTs) and low-coherence history texts (LCTs), the comprehension of 80 college students was measured via free recall, multiple-choice questions, and a keyword sorting task in Exp 1; and via open-ended questions and the sorting task both immediately and after a 1-wk delay in Exp 2. An advantage was found for the HCT on recall and multiple-choice questions. However, high-knowledge readers performed better on the sorting task after reading the LCT. ...