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We examined whether timeline icons improved older and younger adults' comprehension of medication information. In Experiment 1, comprehension of instructions with the icon (icon/text format) and without the icon (textonly format) was assessed by questions about information that was (a) implicit in the text but depicted explicitly by the icon (total dose in a 24 hour period), (b) stated and depicted in the icon/text condition (medication dose and times), and (c) stated but not depicted by the icon (e.g., side effects). In a separate task, participants also recalled medication instructions (with or without the icon) after a study period. We ...

Objective To examine whether explanatory illustrations can improve older adults’ comprehension of written health information. Methods Six short health-related texts were selected from websites and pamphlets. Young and older adults were randomly assigned to read health-related texts alone or texts accompanied by explanatory illustrations. Eye movements were recorded while reading. Word recognition, text comprehension, and comprehension of the illustrations were assessed after reading. Results Older adults performed as well as or better than young adults on the word recognition and text comprehension measures. However, older adults performed less well than young adults on the illustration comprehension measures. Analysis of readers’ eye movements showed that older ...

This study examined the effect of graphic organizers on the comprehension of a health education brochure text and compared subjective with objective comprehension measures. Graphic organizers are graphical depictions of relations among concepts in a text. Participants read a brochure text about asthma with and without these organizers, and subjective and objective text comprehension was measured. It was found that graphic organizers had effects on four levels of objective comprehension as indicated by open comprehension questions. However, on the subjective comprehension measure using Likert-type scales, the groups with and without graphic organizers did not differ from each other. It is ...

Referentiële uitdrukkingen bevatten vaak meer informatie dan strikt noodzakelijk is voor unieke identificatie van de entiteit waarnaar verwezen wordt. Wanneer die extra informatie het identificatieproces vertraagt, zou er sprake zijn van een schending van de twee maximes die Grice formuleert in de categorie kwantiteit (Grice, 1975). De resultaten van een perceptie-experiment geven duidelijkheid over het effect van extra informatie (overspecificatie) op de identificatietijd, de tijd die nodig is voor het identificeren van de entiteit die in de referentiële uitdrukking benoemd wordt. Overgespecificeerde uitdrukkingen leiden tot snellere identificatie wanneer de inhoud de lezer in staat stelt (i) om zich een complete voorstelling ...

In een eerder onderzoek werden geen effecten gevonden van de toepassing van Information Mapping methode op de prestaties of waardering van gebruikers. In drie vervolgexperimenten hebben wij tekst- en lezerskenmerken onderzocht die van invloed zouden kunnen zijn op resultaten van de IMAP-methode. Tekstlengte bleek een positief effect te hebben; in afwijking van het eerdere onderzoek, waarin gebruik werd gemaakt van een relatief korte tekst, bleek dat lezers met een IMAP-variant van een langere tekst wel effectiever en efficiënter werkten dan met de originele tekst; ook bleek hun waardering voor de IMAP-teksten hoger (experiment 1). Toevoegen van typische IMAP-vormkenmerken aan verder ...

In een eerder onderzoek werden geen effecten gevonden van de toepassing van Information Mapping methode op de prestaties of waardering van gebruikers. In drie vervolgexperimenten hebben wij tekst- en lezerskenmerken onderzocht die van invloed zouden kunnen zijn op resultaten van de IMAP-methode. Tekstlengte bleek een positief effect te hebben; in afwijking van het eerdere onderzoek, waarin gebruik werd gemaakt van een relatief korte tekst, bleek dat lezers met een IMAP-variant van een langere tekst wel effectiever en efficiënter werkten dan met de originele tekst; ook bleek hun waardering voor de IMAP-teksten hoger (experiment 1). Toevoegen van typische IMAP-vormkenmerken aan verder ...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine if university students could accurately extract information from graphs presented in 2D or 3D formats with different colour hue variations or solid black and white. Design/methodology/approach: Participants are presented with 2D and 3D bar and pie charts in a PowerPoint presentation and are asked to extract specific information from the displays. A three (question difficulty) x two (graph type) x two (dimension) x two (colour) repeated measures ANOVA is conducted for both accuracy and reaction time. Findings: Overall, 2D graphs led to better comprehension, particularly when complex information was presented. Accuracy ...

The main goal of this study was to explore whether the use of multimedia in genetics instruction contributes more to students’ knowledge and comprehension than other instructional modes. We were also concerned with the influence of different instructional modes on the retention of knowledge and comprehension. In a quasi-experimental design, four comparable groups of 3rd and 4th grade high school students were taught the process of protein synthesis: group 1 was taught in the traditional lecture format (n = 112 students), group 2 only by reading text (n = 124 students), group 3 through multimedia that integrated two short computer ...

Graphical displays are frequently used to express quantitative information in texts, but viewers are sometimes unable to comprehend and learn the relevant information. According to a cognitive analysis, graph interpretation involves (a) relatively simple pattern perception and association processes in which viewers can associate graphic patterns to quantitative referents and (b) more complex and error-prone inferential processes in which viewers must mentally transform data. Experiment 1 establishes that graphs can be redesigned to improve viewers' interpretations by minimizing the inferential processes and maximizing the pattern association processes required to interpret relevant information. In Experiments 2 and 3, the researchers isolated ...

Graphical displays are frequently used to express quantitative information in texts, but viewers are sometimes unable to comprehend and learn the relevant information. According to a cognitive analysis, graph interpretation involves (a) relatively simple pattern perception and association processes in which viewers can associate graphic patterns to quantitative referents and (b) more complex and error-prone inferential processes in which viewers must mentally transform data. Experiment 1 establishes that graphs can be redesigned to improve viewers' interpretations by minimizing the inferential processes and maximizing the pattern association processes required to interpret relevant information. In Experiments 2 and 3, the researchers isolated ...