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This paper presents an integrated view of learning from verbal and pictorial representations. Learning from these representations is considered as a task oriented process of constructing multiple mental representations. Construction of these representations includes information selection and information organisation, parsing of symbol structures, mapping of analog structures as well as model construction and model inspection. Based on this theoretical view an experiment was conducted to analyse the effects of different kinds of multiple external representations on the structure of mental models. Sixty university students were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental conditions. The text-only group learned the subject ...

In het hier beschreven onderzoek, waarover uitvoeriger wordt gerapporteerd in Jansen & Steehouder (1989), werden problemen van formuliereninvullers onderzocht door proefpersonen formulieren hardopdenkend te laten invullen aan de hand van een situatieschets. Uit de ingevulde formulieren, de observaties en de uitingen van de proefpersonen konden conclusies getrokken worden over de soorten problemen die invullers tegenkwamen en over enkele strategieen die ze hanteerden. Deze conclusies vormden, samen met aan de vakliteratuur ontleende aanwijzingen, de leidraad vooor een grondige revisie van zeven van de formulieren. Het bleek dat het aantal onacceptabel ingevulde formulieren met ongeveer de helft verminderde. ...

In dit artikel bespreken we de acht eisen die gesteld zouden kunnen worden aan voorlichtingsteksten die tot doel hebben potentiele belanghebbenden te informeren over de inhoud van een overheidsregeling. In een empirisch onderzoek hebben we nagegaan in hoeverre die eisen zinvol te noemen zijn. We hebben vijf voorlichtingsvarianten over Individuele huursubsidie, die in verschillende mate aan de acht eisen voldeden, voorgelegd aan een groot aantal proefpersonen. De resultaten bevestigden in grote lijnen de relevantie van de geformuleerde eisen. ...

We examined the influence of text genre on monitoring of understanding and recall in adults. Younger and older adults' sentence reading times, sentence rereadings, and memory for texts containing inconsistent information were assessed in an on-line analysis. Adults' reading times were affected by text genre, with age differences found for expository but not narrative passages. Reading times of all adults were hindered when reading expository passages, with proportionately more disruption for older adults. Although younger and older adults reread sentences more frequently in expository passages, they recalled more information in narratives and were more likely to accurately comment on inconsistencies ...

In 3 experiments, 267 undergraduates whose reading ability was determined by the Davis Reading Test or their 12th-grade English marks read and recalled texts that varied in local (micro-) or global (macro-) processing difficulty. In Exp I, 10 theoretically derived text variables, 5 at the micro- and 5 at the macrolevel, successfully predicted comprehension efficiency scores. Micro- and macrovariables accounted for unique portions of the comprehension variance. For the technical prose passages, microvariables were better predictors of less skilled readers' performance, whereas macrovariables were better for skilled readers'. In Exps II and III, lexical and macrostructure difficulty were factorially combined; ...

In het kader van de taalcampagne Helder Haags kreeg de Universiteit van Tilburg het verzoek van de gemeente Den Haag om onderzoek te verrichten naar de kwaliteit van brieven aan burgers. De brieven zijn herschreven door een taaladviseur. Discussies over noodzaak van herschrijvingen kunnen beslecht worden door te onderzoeken hoe burgers daadwerkelijk reageren op de brieven. Daarom zijn op diverse locaties in Den Haag brieven aan in totaal 366 burgers voorgelegd. ...

Two experiments examined visual attention distribution in learning from text and pictures. Participants watched a 16-step multimedia instruction on the formation of lightning. In Experiment 1 (N = 90) the instruction was system-paced (fast, medium, slow pace), while it was self-paced in Experiment 2 (N = 31). In both experiments the text modality was varied (written, spoken). During learning, the participants' eye movements were recorded. Results from both experiments revealed that learners spent more time studying the visualizations with spoken text than those with written text. In written text conditions learners consistently started reading before alternating between text and visualization; moreover, they spent more ...

Objective: The objective of the study was to compare 3 different approaches for increasing clients’ understanding of contraceptive effectiveness. Study design: We randomized 900 reproductive-age women in India and Jamaica to 1 of 3 charts presenting pregnancy risk. Results: The most important reason for choosing a contraceptive was how well it prevents pregnancy (54%) followed by few side effects (17%). At baseline, knowledge about contraceptive effectiveness was poor. About half knew oral contraceptive pills are more effective than condoms (46%) and intrauterine devices are more effective than injectables (50%). All 3 charts improved knowledge significantly (P ! .01) for these 2 ...

The usefulness of drug information leaflets with pictures for elderly patient education to facilitate understanding of their medicines was examined. Sixty inpatients, more than 65 years old, were divided into three groups of 20 patients each. Each group was provided drug information such as trade name, efficacy, administration procedure and cautions for use by one of the following three procedures: i) oral explanation; ii) oral explanation and provision of information written on the package; iii) oral explanation and provision of an information leaflet with pictures. Understanding by patients of their medicines was assessed by an interview with a pharmacist. The ...

Objective: To determine which of three different approaches increased women's understanding of risk of pregnancy associated with different contraceptive methods. Methods: We randomly assigned 461 reproductive-age women to one of three tables presenting pregnancy risk (Food and Drug Administration table with numbers, World Health Organization table with numbers and categories, or table with categories). We evaluated participant knowledge before and after being shown the assigned table. Results: The most important reason for choosing a contraceptive was how well it works (53%), followed by ease of use (13%), and protection against sexually transmitted disease or human immunodeficiency virus (11%). Before looking ...