Morrow, D. G., Leirer, V. O., Andrassy, J. M., Hier, C. M., & Menard, W. E. (1998). The influence of list format and category headers on age differences in understanding medication instructions. Experimental aging research, 24(3), 231-256.
Morrow, D.; Leirer, V.; Andrassy, J.; Hier, C.; Menard, W.
1998
Morrow, D. G., Leirer, V. O., Andrassy, J. M., Hier, C. M., & Menard, W. E. (1998). The influence of list format and category headers on age differences in understanding medication instructions. Experimental aging research, 24(3), 231-256.
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We examined whether instructions are better understood and remembered when they contain organizational cues. Our previous research found that older and younger adults organize medication information in similar ways, suggesting that they have a schema for taking medication. In the present study, list formats (vs. paragraphs) emphasized the order of information and category headers emphasized the grouping of information specied by this schema. Experiment 1 examined whether list and header cues improve comprehension (answer time and accuracy) and recall for adults varying in age and working memory capacity (measured by a sentence span task). List instructions were better understood and recalled than paragraphs, and reduced age differences in answer time and span differences in accuracy. Headers reduced paragraph comprehension for participants with lower levels of working memory capacity, presumably because they were not salient cues in the paragraphs. Experiment 2 investigated if headers were more effective when more saliently placed in paragraphs and lists, and if list and header cues.
Experiment 2 as well as Experiment 1 found greater list benefits for older than for younger adult comprehension of expanded medication instructions. The benefits of the list format were even greater when participants had to draw an inference in addition to identifying directly stated information, presumably because the information needed for the inference was easier to find in lists than in paragraphs. List formats may facilitate information integration within an instruction but not across several instructions. Headers were less likely to reduce paragraph comprehension in Experiment 2 than in Experiment 1, although they did impair instruction recall. Thus, headers that are more saliently positioned are less likely to disrupt comprehension. Age differences in overall instruction comprehension and recall partly reflected age differences in cognitive resources (measured by sentence span and vocabulary tests). Higher-span older adults also understood the instructions as well as lower-span younger adults (although the younger group better recalled the instructions in Experiment 2).
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