The current study stemmed from correspondence with a researcher employed by the
U.S. Navy. All U.S. Navy message traffic emails (i.e. mass distributed messages from the
U.S. Navy administration, rather than personal messages sent between U.S. Navy personnel)
are written in exclusively capital letters, and paragraph spacing is not always preserved upon
receipt of a message. Several individuals in this researcher's lab found the capital letters
format to be annoying and difficult to read, and they desired to know if such a format was
measurably detrimental to reading (Jeffrey Dyche, personal communication, October 22,
2001). Thus, the primary purpose of the current research was to determine if the format
adopted by the U.S. Navy affects the time a reader needs to finish reading an email as well as
the ability to identify and remember important information presented in an email. Secondly,
readers' preference of text style was determined, because these preferences can influence
reading behavior. Understanding these factors is important, especially with respect to timepressured cases when little time is available to decipher an email message, as might be the
case for the U.S. Navy in hostile or unexpected military situations.
Readability is the ease with which a text may be comprehended (Samuels, 1983).
Factors external to a reader, (e.g. text topic and structure, environmental characteristics, and
the goal imposed on the reader by an external source), and factors internal to a reader, (e.g.
visual system processes, background experiences, knowledge base, and awareness of text
structure), dually affect the reading process (Samuels). Internal factors could be further
categorized into physical and cognitive influences, both of which vary across individuals.
For example, the functioning of the eye, visual cortex, and other cortical areas involved in
reading are not equivalent across individuals , and further, reading ability will vary with the
individual's learning style, word familiarity, and grammar usage to influence the reading
process. The scope of the current research is limited to the effects of external factors,
specifically letter case, text format, and "imposed goals", on reading times, information
retention, and reader text preference; thus no physiological functions were measured.
According to many researchers (e.g. Hill & Scharff, 1997; Legge, Rubin, & Luebker,
1987; Samuels, 1983), there is an interaction among external factors to influence overall
reading speed, comprehension, eye movements, and reading strategies (see also a review in
Woods, Davis, & Scharff, 2005). These factors include: illumination and contrast, print size,
font style and legibility (letter recognition), format design (page width, size, placement of
text, etc.), the use of titles and headers, text style (word frequency, sentence construction, and
text construction), and the goal or direction imposed on the reader. For example, a reader
whose text has a less legible font style but important information separated spatially, may
have an equivalent reading speed as another reader whose text has a more legible font but
unorganized content. Because this interaction can occur, the factors influencing reading
speed, retention, and reader text preference are not segregated for discussion. The following
information refers to sighted readers with normal vision.
The current study stemmed from correspondence with a researcher employed by theU.S. Navy. All U.S. Navy message traffic emails (i.e. mass distributed messages from theU.S. Navy administration, rather than personal messages sent between U.S. Navy personnel)are written in exclusively capital letters, and paragraph spacing is not always preserved uponreceipt of a message. Several individuals in this researcher's lab found the capital lettersformat to be annoying and difficult to read, and they desired to know if such a format wasmeasurably detrimental to reading (Jeffrey Dyche, personal communication, October 22,2001). Thus, the primary purpose of the current research was to determine if the formatadopted by the U.S. Navy affects the time a reader needs to finish reading an email as well asthe ability to identify and remember important information presented in an email. Secondly,readers' preference of text style was determined, because these preferences can influencereading behavior. Understanding these factors is important, especially with respect to timepressured cases when little time is available to decipher an email message, as might be thecase for the U.S. Navy in hostile or unexpected military situations.Readability is the ease with which a text may be comprehended (Samuels, 1983).Factors external to a reader, (e.g. text topic and structure, environmental characteristics, andthe goal imposed on the reader by an external source), and factors internal to a reader, (e.g.visual system processes, background experiences, knowledge base, and awareness of textstructure), dually affect the reading process (Samuels). Internal factors could be furthercategorized into physical and cognitive influences, both of which vary across individuals.For example, the functioning of the eye, visual cortex, and other cortical areas involved inreading are not equivalent across individuals , and further, reading ability will vary with theindividual's learning style, word familiarity, and grammar usage to influence the readingprocess. The scope of the current research is limited to the effects of external factors,specifically letter case, text format, and "imposed goals", on reading times, informationretention, and reader text preference; thus no physiological functions were measured.According to many researchers (e.g. Hill & Scharff, 1997; Legge, Rubin, & Luebker,1987; Samuels, 1983), there is an interaction among external factors to influence overallreading speed, comprehension, eye movements, and reading strategies (see also a review inWoods, Davis, & Scharff, 2005). These factors include: illumination and contrast, print size,font style and legibility (letter recognition), format design (page width, size, placement oftext, etc.), the use of titles and headers, text style (word frequency, sentence construction, andข้อความที่ก่อสร้าง), และเป้าหมายหรือทิศทางที่กำหนดบนเครื่องอ่าน อ่านตัวอย่างข้อความมีลักษณะแบบอักษรน้อยอ่าน แต่ข้อมูลสำคัญคั่น spatially พฤษภาคมได้เทียบเท่ากับการอ่านเร็วเป็นอื่นอ่านข้อความมีแบบอักษรสามารถเข้าใจมากขึ้น แต่เนื้อหา unorganized เนื่องจากการโต้ตอบนี้สามารถเกิดขึ้นได้ ปัจจัยที่มีอิทธิพลต่อการอ่านความเร็ว รักษา และการกำหนดลักษณะข้อความที่อ่านมีแยกสำหรับการสนทนา ต่อไปนี้ข้อมูลอ้างอิงถึงผู้อ่าน sighted ปกติวิสัยทัศน์
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