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Researchers have manipulated text comprehension by creating texts that require a title to be understood, but the source of the comprehension deficit has not been fully examined. We created comprehension quizzes for these texts that measure the surface form, textbase, and situation model. In three experiments, participants read passages with or without a title and then answered quiz questions. Results showed that the absence of a title influenced the accuracy rate of answering situation model questions more than answering surface form or textbase questions. This suggests that the situation model is the primary source of difficulty for these texts. These ...

Researchers have manipulated text comprehension by creating texts that require a title to be understood, but the source of the comprehension deficit has not been fully examined. We created comprehension quizzes for these texts that measure the surface form, textbase, and situation model. In three experiments, participants read passages with or without a title and then answered quiz questions. Results showed that the absence of a title influenced the accuracy rate of answering situation model questions more than answering surface form or textbase questions. This suggests that the situation model is the primary source of difficulty for these texts. These ...

Researchers have manipulated text comprehension by creating texts that require a title to be understood, but the source of the comprehension deficit has not been fully examined. We created comprehension quizzes for these texts that measure the surface form, textbase, and situation model. In three experiments, participants read passages with or without a title and then answered quiz questions. Results showed that the absence of a title influenced the accuracy rate of answering situation model questions more than answering surface form or textbase questions. This suggests that the situation model is the primary source of difficulty for these texts. These ...

Background: A high level of reading skill and comprehension is necessary to understand and complete most consent forms that are required for participation in clinical research studies. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that a simplified consent form would be less intimidating and more easily understood by individuals with low-to-marginal reading skills. Methods: During July 1996, 183 adults (53 patients with cancer or another medical condition and 130 apparently healthy participants) were tested for reading ability and then asked to read either the standard Southwestern Oncology Group (SWOG) consent form (16th grade level) or a simplified form (7th ...

This study compared immediate recall of prescription information when the message content was presented in a highly organized format versus a less-organized approach. Two groups of pharmacy students viewed separate videotapes, which described information for a patient about three fictitious medications. Students were then asked to recall the medications' name, colour, purpose, dosage, duration, side-effects and quantity prescribed. Students who viewed the organized version correctly recalled more information in every category except drug colour. Both groups made more errors in recalling dosage than any other category. Thus, organizing information facilitates recall of medication information. ...

Most text is presented either in a "portrait" style (where the height is greater than the width) or in a "landscape" one (where the width is greater than the height), but no researcher to our knowledge has compared the effects of these different typographic layouts on readers' comprehension & preferences. The aim of the present study was to assess, in a preliminary way, how patients would respond to a patient information leaflet (PIL) printed in these two formats. The results showed that both leaflet designs were equally effective in conveying their information. However as the different layouts might support different ...

We conducted a study to determine the effects of presenting prescription information in a pictorial compared to a verbal format on comprehension and memory in young and old adults. Both comprehension and memory for drug information were studied as a function of age and presentation method. Participants received prescription instructions on actual medicine bottles in one of two formats: verbal instructions only, or verbal instructions mixed with pictorial representations. Results indicated that (a) younger adults' memory for prescription information was facilitated by the mixed instructions, but that mixed instructions appeared to hamper older adults' memory for prescription information; (b) younger ...

The purpose of this study is to translate principles of multimedia learning from college-age readers to middle grade students, when reading science texts with a supporting diagram. In this experimental study, sixth-grade students (n = 180) were randomly assigned to display conditions before reading. Each student read two explanatory sciences passages, a life-science and a physical science text. Passages were accompanied by either no illustrations (control), illustrations of the cycle with labels for each part (parts), illustrations of the cycle with labels for each major process (steps), or illustrations showing the labels for each part and each major process (parts and steps). ...

This study sought to improve students' comprehension of scientific graphs by adapting scaffolding techniques used to aid text comprehension. In 3 experiments involving 121 female and 88 male college students, some students were shown cognitive aids prior to viewing 4 geography graphs whereas others were not; all students were then asked to write a summary of the main information in the graphs. Students who received signaling or structural graphic organizers, which are designed to facilitate the cognitive process of organizing, generated more relational statements (e.g., "the deeper the water, the greater the sediment concentration"; d = 0.60 and d = ...

This study sought to improve students' comprehension of scientific graphs by adapting scaffolding techniques used to aid text comprehension. In 3 experiments involving 121 female and 88 male college students, some students were shown cognitive aids prior to viewing 4 geography graphs whereas others were not; all students were then asked to write a summary of the main information in the graphs. Students who received signaling or structural graphic organizers, which are designed to facilitate the cognitive process of organizing, generated more relational statements (e.g., "the deeper the water, the greater the sediment concentration"; d = 0.60 and d = ...