Location

Nessmith-Lane Atrium

Session Format

Poster Presentation

Research Area Topic:

Humanities & Social Sciences - Psychology, Sociology & Political Science

Co-Presenters and Faculty Mentors or Advisors

Karen Naufel (Georgia Southern University)

Jason Parker (Georgia Southern University)

Abstract

Comprehension of pictures and text in health-related materials like medication instructions and pamphlets plays a critical role in health outcomes. Understanding the materials can help promote information integration, information recall, medication adherence, and improved health communication. Existing research that address the effects of repetition in pictures and text have been in other contexts such as object assembly. It shows that repetitious multimedia results in better free recall and accuracy and response times in order verification (BrunyÌ© et al., 2008). Research also suggests that there is better recall for pictures integrated with the text than separated (Johnson & Mayer, 2012). However, no studies that have looked at the extent that the combined effects of repetition and integration affect comprehension, memory, and sequence order verification of pictorial instructions. The proposed study is a 2 (Multimedia Type: repetitious versus complementary) X 2 (Presentation Type: integrated versus separated) design and will test the extent that integration moderates the effects of repetition. In the proposed study, participants will view a set of instructions on how to prepare a mock oral suspension drug that involves a series of eight steps. There are four different sets of medication instructions that vary in multimedia format: 1) the repetitious-integrated condition, where picture and text that will be placed close to each other and both will provide the same information, 2) the complementary-integrated condition, which contains half of the information in the picture and the other half in the text, and the picture and text are placed close to each other, 3) the repetitious-separated condition, where the picture and text both provide the same, repeated information and are placed far away from each other, and 4) the complementary-separated condition, which contains half of the information in the picture and the other half in the text, and the picture and text are placed far from each other. After seeing these instruction sets, they will complete measures about comprehension and memory for the instructions and their belief in their ability to carry out instructions. Based on the levels-of-processing approach (Craik & Lockhart, 1972), Levie and Lentz‰Ûªs (1982) research about repetition, and the dual coding theory (Paivio, 1986), I predict that repetitious information in pictures and text will yield better comprehension and information recall than complementary information. Based on cognitive load theory (Sweller, 1988) and the spatial contiguity principle (Mayer, 2005), I predict that integrated formats for pictures and text will result in better comprehension and memory of information than separated formats. Finally, I predict there will be combined effects of both integration and repetition. Specifically, I predict that participants who receive the repetitious-integrated instructions, which contain repeated information in pictures and text that are placed close to each other, will have the best performance in comprehension and memory, and sequence order verification.

Keywords

Georgia Southern University, Research Symposium, Repetition, Formatting, Medication instructions, Information integration, Health communication

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Presentation Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

Start Date

4-16-2016 2:45 PM

End Date

4-16-2016 4:00 PM

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Apr 16th, 2:45 PM Apr 16th, 4:00 PM

Repetition and Formatting in Medication Instructions

Nessmith-Lane Atrium

Comprehension of pictures and text in health-related materials like medication instructions and pamphlets plays a critical role in health outcomes. Understanding the materials can help promote information integration, information recall, medication adherence, and improved health communication. Existing research that address the effects of repetition in pictures and text have been in other contexts such as object assembly. It shows that repetitious multimedia results in better free recall and accuracy and response times in order verification (BrunyÌ© et al., 2008). Research also suggests that there is better recall for pictures integrated with the text than separated (Johnson & Mayer, 2012). However, no studies that have looked at the extent that the combined effects of repetition and integration affect comprehension, memory, and sequence order verification of pictorial instructions. The proposed study is a 2 (Multimedia Type: repetitious versus complementary) X 2 (Presentation Type: integrated versus separated) design and will test the extent that integration moderates the effects of repetition. In the proposed study, participants will view a set of instructions on how to prepare a mock oral suspension drug that involves a series of eight steps. There are four different sets of medication instructions that vary in multimedia format: 1) the repetitious-integrated condition, where picture and text that will be placed close to each other and both will provide the same information, 2) the complementary-integrated condition, which contains half of the information in the picture and the other half in the text, and the picture and text are placed close to each other, 3) the repetitious-separated condition, where the picture and text both provide the same, repeated information and are placed far away from each other, and 4) the complementary-separated condition, which contains half of the information in the picture and the other half in the text, and the picture and text are placed far from each other. After seeing these instruction sets, they will complete measures about comprehension and memory for the instructions and their belief in their ability to carry out instructions. Based on the levels-of-processing approach (Craik & Lockhart, 1972), Levie and Lentz‰Ûªs (1982) research about repetition, and the dual coding theory (Paivio, 1986), I predict that repetitious information in pictures and text will yield better comprehension and information recall than complementary information. Based on cognitive load theory (Sweller, 1988) and the spatial contiguity principle (Mayer, 2005), I predict that integrated formats for pictures and text will result in better comprehension and memory of information than separated formats. Finally, I predict there will be combined effects of both integration and repetition. Specifically, I predict that participants who receive the repetitious-integrated instructions, which contain repeated information in pictures and text that are placed close to each other, will have the best performance in comprehension and memory, and sequence order verification.