Morrow, D.G., Hier, C.M., Menard, W.E., & Von Leirer, O. (1998). Icons improve older and younger adults' comprehension of medication information. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 53B(4), 240-254

Morrow, D.; Hier, C.; Menard, W.; Von Leirer, O.

1998

Morrow, D.G., Hier, C.M., Menard, W.E., & Von Leirer, O. (1998). Icons improve older and younger adults' comprehension of medication information. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 53B(4), 240-254

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We examined whether timeline icons improved older and younger adults' comprehension of medication information. In Experiment 1, comprehension of instructions with the icon (icon/text format) and without the icon (textonly format) was assessed by questions about information that was (a) implicit in the text but depicted explicitly by the icon (total dose in a 24 hour period), (b) stated and depicted in the icon/text condition (medication dose and times), and (c) stated but not depicted by the icon (e.g., side effects). In a separate task, participants also recalled medication instructions (with or without the icon) after a study period. We found that questions about dose and time information were answered more quickly and accurately when the icon was present in the instructions. Notably, icon benefits were greater for information that was implicit rather than stated in the text. This finding suggests that icons can improve older and younger adults' comprehension by reducing the need to draw some inferences. The icon also reduced effective study time (study time per item recalled). In Experiment 2, icon benefits did not occur for a less integrated version of the timeline icon that, like the text, required participants to integrate dose and time information in order to identify the total daily dose. The integrated version of the icon again improved comprehension, as in Experiment 1, as well as drawing inferences from memory. These findings show that integrated timeline icons improved comprehension primarily by aiding the integration of dose and time information. These findings are discussed in terms of a situation model approach to comprehension.

Experiment 2 extends the findings of the first experiment in several ways. First, it provides more evidence that the integrated icon improves comprehension and memory accuracy as well as comprehension time. This supports the idea that the icon improved comprehension by reducing the mental integration required to identify the total daily dose Second, Experiment 2 helps identify the aspects of the timeline icon that facilitate comprehension and memory. The finding that the integrated icon was more effective than the nonintegrated icon, which was usually no more effective than text alone, suggests that the timeline improved comprehension by directly or perceptually integrating dose and time information. Both experiments also showed that age differences in instruction memory were due in large part to age differences in cognitive abilities.

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