Lee, M. J., & Tedder, M. C. (2003). The effects of three different computer texts on readers' recall: Based on working memory capacity. Computers in Human Behavior, 19(6), 767-783.

Lee, M.;Tedder, M.

2003

Lee, M. J., & Tedder, M. C. (2003). The effects of three different computer texts on readers' recall: Based on working memory capacity. Computers in Human Behavior, 19(6), 767-783.

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This study investigated the effects of three different computer texts on readers' recall based on individuals' different working memory capacities. In addition, the intermediate effects of the total reading time were taken into account. The findings indicated that the structure and presentation of text influence how well information is remembered. Those who read the linear, traditional text produced better recall scores than those who read the hypertexts. In particular, when the total time spent on reading was controlled, the difference between the two hypertexts disappeared. Furthermore, the participants with different working memory capacities appeared to exhibit different results in that those who were low in working memory produced the best results with the traditional text while the difference was not significant among the different conditions for those who were high in working memory.

The structure and presentation of text influences how well information is recalled. Participants who read the structured hypertext had much lower recall scores than participants who read the traditional text or networked text. However, this difference disappeared when reading time was considered. Participants who read the traditional text exhibited higher recall scores than those who read the other types of computer text. In this study an anticipated direction was detected in that for the participants with the low working memory span, reading the article in the traditional text format produced the best recall scores while the recall scores of those with the high working memory span did not vary by the conditions, as expected.

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