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Textual hyperlinks are important mainstays of the navigation systems of websites. The study presented here examines how the wording of hyperlinks in a navigation menu and embedded within the body text of a web page can influence users' browsing behavior, perceptions, and comprehension. Five experimental conditions were tested that varied hyper-link wording (generic, intriguing, and informative) in a navigation menu and in embedded links. Significant differences were found between the experimental conditions concerning number of links clicked, number of pages viewed, and inferential comprehension, with higher scores for study participants in conditions that had a navigation menu with generic hyperlink ...

This research explored the comprehensibility of jury instructions in the penalty phase of murder trials. Data were collected to ascertain whether miscomprehension of jury instructions limits the law's ability to direct juror discretion in a manner consistent with the Eighth Amendment's proscription against cruel and unusual punishment. Citizens willing to impose the death penalty were presented in 2 experiments with 4 sets of instructions (i.e., baseline instructions, instructions used at trial, instructions revised according to Eighth Amendment holdings, and model instructions written in nontechnical language). Results demonstrated high confusion with the trial instructions, little improvement with revised instructions, significant but ...

This research explored the comprehensibility of jury instructions in the penalty phase of murder trials. Data were collected to ascertain whether miscomprehension of jury instructions limits the law's ability to direct juror discretion in a manner consistent with the Eighth Amendment's proscription against cruel and unusual punishment. Citizens willing to impose the death penalty were presented in 2 experiments with 4 sets of instructions (i.e., baseline instructions, instructions used at trial, instructions revised according to Eighth Amendment holdings, and model instructions written in nontechnical language). Results demonstrated high confusion with the trial instructions, little improvement with revised instructions, significant but ...

Objective While effectively written health-related materials can facilitate self-care, using negative wording may backfire, as patients may forget negations and remember the opposite of intended information. The present study attempts to determine if older readers are particularly susceptible to misremembering negatively worded health-related statements.Methods Younger and older adults read positively and negatively worded statements and were later tested for memory of the exact statements, statements opposite in meaning due to the addition or deletion of a negation, and entirely new statements.Results For intact statements, both groups recognized more positive than negative statements. When statements reversed meanings, younger adults were more ...

An experimental design, theoretically motivated by cognitive models of text comprehension, investigates effects of structures in complex news on readers (undergraduate non-science majors) who have little or no expertise for the content (science and technology). Text from two New York Times stories were modified for a proposed explanatory structure building (ESB) model to enhance reader interest in and comprehension of the content. Dependent variables include self-reported situational interest and a deeper situational understanding of the text as measured by sorting tasks and inference generating questions. A between-subjects field experiment exposed participants (N = 235) to text on a Web page ...

Aims To investigate health literacy (i.e. understanding medical information) in North Shore Hospital's Emergency Medicine Department patients and to assess differences in comprehension between standard and simplified head injury advice sheets.Methods Prospective randomised controlled trial in a convenience sample of adult Emergency Medicine patients presenting to an urban emergency department (ED) in New Zealand. Consented patients were randomised to receive either the standard head injury advice sheet or a shorter, simplified sheet. Participants were asked 10 questions (to test comprehension of advice sheets), demographic data collected, and a Rapid Estimation of Adult Literacy in Medicine test administered. Data analysis included ...

Two experiments examined the effects of increasing the noticeability of instruction manual warnings on subsequent comprehension and memory performance. Participants read one of four instruction manuals for a gas-powered electric generator (Experiment 1) or a natural-gas oven (Experiment 2) on the assumption that they would later operate the equipment. The appearance of eight different warning messages in the manuals was altered in two ways: (1) the verbal messages were printed either in conspicuous print (larger text with color highlighting) or in plain print (same as the other text), and (2) either the verbal warning messages were accompanied by compatible pictorial ...

Two experiments examined the effects of increasing the noticeability of instruction manual warnings on subsequent comprehension and memory performance. Participants read one of four instruction manuals for a gas-powered electric generator (Experiment 1) or a natural-gas oven (Experiment 2) on the assumption that they would later operate the equipment. The appearance of eight different warning messages in the manuals was altered in two ways: (1) the verbal messages were printed either in conspicuous print (larger text with color highlighting) or in plain print (same as the other text), and (2) either the verbal warning messages were accompanied by compatible pictorial ...

In this paper the assumption of cognitive overhead in hypermedia learning is specified by cognitive load theory. This analysis is based on different types of cognitive load, the dimension of linearity/non-linearity as well as text characteristics. We propose a model stating that extraneous cognitive load in hypermedia learning is basically determined by the interaction of text presentation format (linear/non-linear) with text type (text with and without narrative structures). This assumption was tested by means of a 2 x 2 experimental design. Sixty participants completed a computer-based learning program that contained a narrative text or an encyclopaedia text in either linear ...

A health warning was presented to 89 female and 19 male students aged 17-36 years via three modalities or channels of communication: a 'talking head' (video), an audiotape recording (audio) or a printed transcript (print). The verbal content of the message was identical in all three conditions. Participants' free recall, cued recall (recognition) and global recall of the message were then measured. On two separate dependent measures and a combined measure, recall was significantly (p < .005) better in both the audio and print conditions than in the video condition. No significant differences in recall were found between the audio ...