Effects of extra information on TV viewers' visual attention, message processing ability, and cognitive workload (original) (raw)
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Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 1999
The limited capacity model of television viewing is used to investigate the impact of arousing content and fast paced production of viewers' information processing of TV messages. Results show that both fast pace and arousing content elicit self-reported arousal, but they elicit different patterns of physiological arousal. Both fast pace and arousing content increase the allocation of processing resources to messages. The combination of fast pace and arousing content overloads the processing system resulting in less recognition and cued recall for the specific content of the message. Results generally support the limited capacity theory of television viewing.
Effects of graphics on processing television news
Two experiments, one with college students and one with older participants, examine how the addition of text and animated graphics influence the processing of television news stories. Recall data suggest graphics help younger and older viewers store and retrieve Information presented in television news stories. Graphics also enhanced encoding of harder stories for younger viewers but not older viewers. The recognition and heart rate data indicate that older viewers engage in more controlled processing of television messages, whereas college students process television in a more automatic fashion.
Computers in Human Behavior, 2011
This study utilized eye-tracking technology to determine the impact of redundant onscreen text information on viewers' cognitive processes with respect to multimedia information. Sixteen college students participated in the study and their eye-movement data and self-reported cognitive load ratings were collected as they viewed three web pages into which different forms of verbal explanations of thunderstorm systems were integrated. A repeated measure design was utilized to support the research purposes. The eye-tracking data showed that viewers relied on text information as the main information resource for determining meaning. Students' cognitive load reports reflected a redundant effect from the on screen text on their cognitive load level when both onscreen and narrative verbal messages were presented. However, eye-movement data revealed that viewers spent less time on the onscreen text when there was a narrative message presenting the same information. When the pictorial information was accompanied by both onscreen and narrative formats of verbal information, viewers seemed to be able to filter out redundant information. Additionally, replacing onscreen text with a voice-over seemed to globally orient viewers' eye fixations toward the illustration. Discussions on results and suggestions for future studies are provided in this paper.
Computers in Human Behavior, 2014
Second-screen viewing-the use of smartphones, tablets, and laptops while watching television-has increased dramatically in the last few years. Using multiple resource theory and threaded cognition theory, this study investigated the effects of second-screen viewing on cognitive load, factual recall and comprehension of news. Second, we examined the effects of relevant (i.e., looking up information related to the news story) and irrelevant (i.e., looking up information unrelated to the story) second-screen viewing on learning from news. Results from an experiment (N = 85) showed that second-screen viewing led to lower factual recall and comprehension of news content than single-screen viewing. These effects were mediated by cognitive load: second-screen viewing led to a higher cognitive load than single-screen viewing, with higher cognitive load, in turn, leading towards lower factual recall and comprehension of news content. Contrary to our expectations, we found no statistically significant differences between effects of relevant and irrelevant second-screen viewing.
Attention to Local and Global Complexity in Television Messages
Annals of the International Communication Association, 1987
TTENTIONAL fluctuations during televison viewing are common. Some programs demand only loose monitoring, and others are quite compelling. Measuring attentional changes and relating them to the content and structure of messages has, however, proved a difficult task. The present study is one of a series that uses reaction times to intermittent cues during viewing as an index of attentional commitment. A method called the secondary task procedure is used to determine how audio and video complexity are related to viewer attention to subunits of messages. Most television research defines attention as the selection of programs rather than as a time-dependent process that changes in intensity during viewing. When attention is defined as a process, it is usually indexed by the ability to recall or recognize program content (Anderson, Larch, Field, &
Pace and continuity of television programs: Effects on children's attention and comprehension
1984
Children's tv programs can be distinguished by the processing demands of their format and the pace with which changes occur. High-continuity programs are stories requiring temporal integration of successive scenes for full comprehension. Low-continuity programs are in "magazine" format: Successive bits are independent of one another, and temporal integration across bits is not required for comprehension. Pace is denned as rate of scene and character change in stones and rate of bit change in magazine shows. Sixteen children's tv programs varying in continuity (high vs. low), pace (high vs low), and animation (cartoon vs. live production) were made from broadcast material. Each lasted 15 minutes. Children (N = 160), half in grades K-l and half in grades 3-4, viewed two of the programs and were then tested for recall. The recall task required sequential senation of still photos taken from the program. Older children attended longer and reconstructed sequences better than younger children. High-continuity (story) programs led to greater attention and better recall than low-continuity (magazine) programs. Low-paced shows were recalled better than high-paced shows. Older children recalled best when shown either low pace or story format or both. Young children showed additive increments in recall due to low pace and high continuity: Either alone was better than none, and both was better than either alone. Younger children attended somewhat more to high-than to low-paced shows if they were in magazine format, a weak effect of perceptual salience. Older children attended to high-continuity programs in synchrony with their pace: longer looks to low-paced and shorter looks to high-paced programs. This effect was attributed to schematic and strategic processing by older children when the format justified it. Regression analyses indicated higher correlations between attention and recall for animated stories than for other types of programs, an effect attributed to their relatively high stereotypy in the medium. Age, continuity, and pace effects on recall were not fully accounted for by their effects on attention. Results were interpreted as indicating evidence for development of active, schematic processing of television by children and for strategic attending by older children, based on perceived processing demands. This research was made possible by a grant from the tention spans and need frequent change to Spencer Foundation, which is gratefully acknowledged, maintain their interest. Indeed many of the The authors would also like to express their gratitude to criticisms of fo^ programs are based on the the teachers, administrators, students, and parents of the
Effects of capacity demands on picture viewing
Perception & Psychophysics, 1993
Effects of cognitive-resource demands on picture-viewing patterns were investigated. The eye fixations of 72 subjects were recorded as the subjects viewed pictures and concurrently performed one of three listening tasks. Half of the subjects were asked to remember certain objects from the pictures and half had no-memory instructions. Concurrent auditory monitoring increased interfixation distances and the frequency of fixations on regions of high informativeness, and decreased the area of the pictures explored and the memory for objects in the scenes. It is suggested that the demands on cognitive resources influenced subjects' ability to encode and integrate fixated information and therefore prolonged the normal first phase of viewing, described by .
The Effects of Selective Attention to Television Forms on Children's Comprehension of Content
1981
The purposes of this study were to provide information about how formal features of television are related to children's selective attention and to determine how selective attention is related, in turn, to comprehension of content. Formal features are defined as attributes of television productions that are relatively content-free and that result from visual and auditory production techniques. Specifically, it was hypothesized that features influence comprehension in two ways: (1) salient featurbs may draw attention selectively to certain content-that is, they may serve to emphasize and mark important contenI, or (2) salient features may provide a developmentally appropriate mode of representation for encoding content in iconic or symbolic codes. Analysis included an investigation of the information processing chain from the effects of salience on attention to later comprehension of content. A total of 128 children at two age levels (kindergarten and and third/fourt) graders) viwed a prosocial cartoon in same-sez pairs. Each child's visual attention to the television screen was continuously scored on a Datamyte. Children were then given a recall test consisting of 60 multiple-choice items. These questions had previously been cross-classified according to dimensions of content (either central or incidental) and formal features used to present that content (either salient or nonsalient). Results are discussed. (RH)
Computers in Human Behavior, 2005
Two experiments were performed to investigate the influence of VDT (video display terminals) and paper presentation of text on consumption of information (Study 1) measured in the form of convergent production and production of information (Study 2) measured in form of divergent production. The READ test of reading comprehension was used as the convergent task whereas the ''Headlines'' test was used as the divergent task. Several other factors pertaining to performance were also studied including the PANAS test of positive and negative affect, the STH test of stress, tiredness and hunger, the TRI (Technology Readiness Inventory) and the SE test of stress and energy.