DISCUSSION
Even though group means were consistent with our predictions, there were no
significant effects of text format or instructions on either response times or content retention.
Thus, the hypotheses regarding these variables were not supported. In contrast to the
objective measures, participants showed strongly significant preferences for the different
formats. Participants liked and found it easiest to locate important information using mixed
case with capitals emphasis and mixed case with spacing emphasis. Further, as hypothesized,
they specifically disliked and found it difficult to locate important information using the allcapital-letters format. While they did not strongly like the normal mixed case, they also did
not strongly dislike it. It is possible that participants least preferred the all-capital-letters
because this is the most unfamiliar way to read text, and reading this format was more
frustrating due to the lack of word shape cues.
Although readers did not perform differently on retention tasks as a result of
emphasized text, they still believed it was easiest to find important information in a
paragraph that contained emphasized sections. Such a result supports Williams' (2000)
assertion that spacing can be a powerful tool for the organization of visual material.
However, the accuracy means regarding the use of spacing emphasis highlight a less positive
point of practical significance. It seems that while spacing emphasis somewhat helped
readers accurately recall information of the emphasized material, it seemed to hinder their
recall of non-emphasized material. Thus, emphasized material may cause readers to pay close
attention to that information and, in the process of doing so, may cause readers to
inadvertently disregard information that was not emphasized. This conclusion is supported
by research on inattentional blindness, where fully visible stimuli are not perceived because
the viewer is not attending to them (for a summary see Simons & Rensink, 2003). Therefore,
students (when using highlighting in texts), educators, marketers, and others who disseminate
information, need to be aware of the potential drawbacks of emphasizing some material
relative to other material, because non-emphasized material may not be processed.
A similar pattern did not exist for the emphasis conditions using all capital letters.
This lack of effect for the all-capital-letter emphasis may have occurred because these
particular emails often contained U.S. Navy acronyms in all capital letters. Thus, readers may
not have been able to efficiently scan for and use the all-capital-letters emphasis and, in turn,
they effectively ignored it. In the future, experimenters should test emails without acronyms.
Experimenters may also want to require participants to read material with more difficult
content. Emphasis may have more of an impact on the reading comprehension of more
complex messages.
126
The current participant sample consisted of college students at a state university; thus,
all were fairly accustomed to the use of computers, and had at least average reading ability at
the college level. U.S. Navy personnel are not given any specific training on reading the allcapital-letter email format, and the U.S. Navy sends the same mass message traffic emails to
civilian, active duty, and reserve personnel. Thus, the use of college students (civilians) as
participants should generalize to many of the U.S. Navy's email recipients. However, over
time, some U.S. Navy personnel may become more accustomed to the all-capital-letter
format and find it less annoying. Future researchers could compare long-term recipients of
such emails and civilians with respect to both the empirical and subjective measures.
Given that at least this current civilian group had such strongly negative subjective
responses to the all-capital-letter format, and that the study was initiated by some U.S. Navy
personnel that found the format frustrating to read and scan to find information, the use of the
all-capital-letter format might warrant attention from the U.S. Navy administration. Further,
the condition means for format as a function of instructions highlight an additional point for
future consideration. Participants only took extra time to process the all-capital-letters format
when they knew they would be questioned over the content. Without questions, they spent
the least amount of time reading emails in the all-capital-letter format, most likely because
they did not like reading that format. Because readers generally are not quizzed over e-mail
content, the U.S. Navy might inadvertently be encouraging its personnel to superficially skim
any traffic message emails not prejudged to be important to the reader. This response
tendency is also supported through personal communication with U.S. Navy employees
(Jeffrey Dyche, Personal Communication, November 21, 2002).
Because emails are so widely used, the results of this experiment also extend beyond
the realm of the U.S. Navy. General users sometimes write emails in all capital letters, either
to suggest emphasis (such emails are often interpreted as "shouting"), or because it is easier
to type without using the shift key as often. Cell phone text messages are also often written
using all capital letters. Such messages may not be read as efficiently, or readers may choose
not to read them at all. In general, it is important to know how to best present electronic text
messages to optimize the transfer of intended information.
DISCUSSIONEven though group means were consistent with our predictions, there were nosignificant effects of text format or instructions on either response times or content retention.Thus, the hypotheses regarding these variables were not supported. In contrast to theobjective measures, participants showed strongly significant preferences for the differentformats. Participants liked and found it easiest to locate important information using mixedcase with capitals emphasis and mixed case with spacing emphasis. Further, as hypothesized,they specifically disliked and found it difficult to locate important information using the allcapital-letters format. While they did not strongly like the normal mixed case, they also didnot strongly dislike it. It is possible that participants least preferred the all-capital-lettersbecause this is the most unfamiliar way to read text, and reading this format was morefrustrating due to the lack of word shape cues.Although readers did not perform differently on retention tasks as a result ofemphasized text, they still believed it was easiest to find important information in aparagraph that contained emphasized sections. Such a result supports Williams' (2000)assertion that spacing can be a powerful tool for the organization of visual material.However, the accuracy means regarding the use of spacing emphasis highlight a less positivepoint of practical significance. It seems that while spacing emphasis somewhat helpedreaders accurately recall information of the emphasized material, it seemed to hinder theirrecall of non-emphasized material. Thus, emphasized material may cause readers to pay closeattention to that information and, in the process of doing so, may cause readers toinadvertently disregard information that was not emphasized. This conclusion is supportedby research on inattentional blindness, where fully visible stimuli are not perceived becausethe viewer is not attending to them (for a summary see Simons & Rensink, 2003). Therefore,students (when using highlighting in texts), educators, marketers, and others who disseminateinformation, need to be aware of the potential drawbacks of emphasizing some materialrelative to other material, because non-emphasized material may not be processed.A similar pattern did not exist for the emphasis conditions using all capital letters.This lack of effect for the all-capital-letter emphasis may have occurred because theseparticular emails often contained U.S. Navy acronyms in all capital letters. Thus, readers maynot have been able to efficiently scan for and use the all-capital-letters emphasis and, in turn,they effectively ignored it. In the future, experimenters should test emails without acronyms.Experimenters may also want to require participants to read material with more difficultcontent. Emphasis may have more of an impact on the reading comprehension of morecomplex messages.126The current participant sample consisted of college students at a state university; thus,all were fairly accustomed to the use of computers, and had at least average reading ability atthe college level. U.S. Navy personnel are not given any specific training on reading the allcapital-letter email format, and the U.S. Navy sends the same mass message traffic emails tocivilian, active duty, and reserve personnel. Thus, the use of college students (civilians) asparticipants should generalize to many of the U.S. Navy's email recipients. However, overtime, some U.S. Navy personnel may become more accustomed to the all-capital-letterformat and find it less annoying. Future researchers could compare long-term recipients ofsuch emails and civilians with respect to both the empirical and subjective measures.Given that at least this current civilian group had such strongly negative subjectiveresponses to the all-capital-letter format, and that the study was initiated by some U.S. Navypersonnel that found the format frustrating to read and scan to find information, the use of theall-capital-letter format might warrant attention from the U.S. Navy administration. Further,the condition means for format as a function of instructions highlight an additional point forfuture consideration. Participants only took extra time to process the all-capital-letters formatwhen they knew they would be questioned over the content. Without questions, they spentthe least amount of time reading emails in the all-capital-letter format, most likely becausethey did not like reading that format. Because readers generally are not quizzed over e-mailcontent, the U.S. Navy might inadvertently be encouraging its personnel to superficially skimany traffic message emails not prejudged to be important to the reader. This responsetendency is also supported through personal communication with U.S. Navy employees(Jeffrey Dyche, Personal Communication, November 21, 2002).Because emails are so widely used, the results of this experiment also extend beyondthe realm of the U.S. Navy. General users sometimes write emails in all capital letters, eitherto suggest emphasis (such emails are often interpreted as "shouting"), or because it is easierto type without using the shift key as often. Cell phone text messages are also often writtenusing all capital letters. Such messages may not be read as efficiently, or readers may choosenot to read them at all. In general, it is important to know how to best present electronic textmessages to optimize the transfer of intended information.
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