Search results

In the split-attention effect spatial proximity is frequently considered to be pivotal. The transition from a spatially separated to a spatially integrated format not only involves changes in spatial proximity, but commonly necessitates text segmentation and picture labelling as well. In an experimental study, we investigated the influence of spatial proximity, text segmentation, and picture labelling on learning performance. A total of 165 students, divided into five groups, participated in the study. Four of the groups learned from spatially separated texts and pictures in a 2 × 2 design with the factors text segmentation (continuous vs. segmented text) and picture labelling (unlabelled ...

Many people have difficulties grasping numerical concepts that are prerequisites for understanding treatment risk reduction. Visual aids have been proposed as a promising method for enhancing comprehension. In a survey of probabilistic, nationally representative samples in two different countries (United States and Germany), we compared the effectiveness of adding different types of visual aids (icon arrays and bar graphs representing either affected individuals only or the entire population at risk) to the numerical information in either an absolute or a relative risk reduction format. We also analyzed whether people's numeracy and graphical literacy skills affected the efficacy of the visual ...

The study set out to validate the supportive role of screen captures for switching attention. Forty-two participants learned how to work with Microsoft Excel with a paper manual. There were three types of manuals: a textual manual, a visual manual with full-screen captures, and a visual manual with a mixture of partial- and full-screen captures. The findings show that participants in all conditions looked up from the manual to the screen on about 97% of the cases in which such a switch was called for rank order analyses showed that users of the visual manuals switched attention significantly more often ...

This study examined the influence of story grammar structure and word repetition among adjacent or near-adjoining sentences on comprehension. 74 undergraduates were assigned randomly to 1 of 2 experimental conditions: a low-inference (LIF) condition that used word and concept repetition, or a high-inference (HIF) group that used prenomial, substitution, and ellipsis anaphora. Ss in each condition read 2 2-page narratives and estimated the number of multiple-choice questions about the passage they could answer correctly. Ss also completed a free-recall task and a multiple-choice test about each passage. Overall, Ss in the LIF group scored relatively higher on comprehension measures than ...

Text is the predominant form of organizational information. Comprehending text-based information requires intensive cognitive processing effort on the part of readers. Drawing on multimedia literature, this study identified a characteristic of multimedia presentations, namely complementary cues, which have the potential to improve the comprehensibility of organizational information. A set of hypotheses about the benefits of multimedia over text-based presentations was generated based on the theoretical perspective that we developed. These predictions were tested through a laboratory experiment using a simulated multimedia intranet. Results show that multimedia facilitates the retention and subsequent recall of explanative information but not of descriptive information. ...

We examined whether older and younger adults share a schema for taking medication and whether instructions are better recalled when they are organized to match this schema. Experiment 1 examined age differences in schema organization. Participants sorted medication items (e.g., purpose, dose, possible side effects) according to similarity and then ordered the items to create a preferred instruction set. Cluster analysis of the sort and order data showed that younger and older adults share a schema for taking medication. Secondary regression analyses found that verbal ability (i.e., vocabulary scores) predicted individual differences in schema organization. In Experiment 2 participants recalled ...

The main purpose of this study was to examine the impact of abstract diagrams on the recall of sequential relations in an expository text. Two hundred and fifty-six undergraduate students of Everyman's University, the Open University of Israel, were requested to read a text of about 4,000 words, dealing with the application of the general communication model to the marketing process. The sequence of the elements in the models was crucial to their understanding. The text appeared in four versions, in which the verbal and schematic representations were manipulated in order to identify the best strategy for assisting the recall of ...

This study examined the instructional effectiveness of abstract diagrams and verbal explanations in learning from social science texts, which contained multi-thematic information and were new to the students. Two texts of about 4,000 words each were examined. Each text appeared in four versions, in which the verbal and schematic representations were manipulated. Unlike previous studies conducted on diagrams and other visual devices that are isolated from the broad research on verbal processing, this study incorporates the investigation of the diagrams' functional utility into the broad context of cognitive elaborations applied to text comprehension. 416 students of Everyman's University, the Open ...

The optimal operational integrity of a health care facility depends upon the correct interpretation of an adherence to well designed and written policies. Memos describing policy and procedures can be ambiguous, hindering their comprehension rather than helping it. Two alternative methods have been developed for communicating policy: the algorithmic flow chart and a computer decision support program. To determine the best means of communicating policy, the written memo, flow chart, and computer program were compared in scenario presentation interviews. The average time required to complete the test scenarios was five minutes for the traditional memo, two minutes for the algorithm, ...

Psychological principles of writing were applied to the design of written patient medication information, and the extent to which these principles helped patients understand and recognize information about their medication was evaluated. Medication information sheets for ampicillin and methyldopa were designed using two formats: (1) a read-organize-attend (ROA) format, and (2) an easy-to-read (R) format. Two hundred seventy-one patients, who were given prescriptions for either drug were randomly assigned to one of three groups:(1) a ROA group which received the information in the ROA formant, (2) a R group, which received the information in the R format, and (3) a ...