The Relationship between Reading and Cognitive Processing of Television and Radio

Abstract

1984, 55, 2072-2082, This study compares the relationship between comprehension and memory for text and television, and comprehension and memory for text and radio, 2 stories were edited to create 3 matched versions of each—-(1) a storybook with pictures, (2) a radio version, and (3) a television version. Third and sixth graders read 1 story and were presented either the television or radio version ofthe other story, counterbalanced for story and order of presentation, A battery of memory and comprehension tests was administered following both the reading and the television or radio conditions. The principal result is that across a range of tasks, performance in the television and reading conditions was not significantly correlated; however, performance in the radio and reading conditions was positively correlated and generally significant. The second important finding is that the absolute levels of performance were similar in the television and reading conditions, and performance was better in both of these conditions than in the radio condition. Hypotheses are discussed to explain why performance in the television condition was not related to reading ability. This study compares comprehension and memory for infonnation presented in various forms of media. More specifically, this study compares the relationship between comprehension and memory for material read with comprehension and memory for material presented on television and on radio. Although there has been a great deal of interest in recent years in the effects of television and other forms of media on the viewer (see Murray, 1980, for a review of the television literature containing 2,886 citations, 60% of which were published after 1975), little of this work has examined the cognitive processes involved in media processing. The majority of the previous research on the relationship between reading and media processing has compared reading ability with the amount of time spent viewing television, (There is little previous research on radio processing.) These correlational studies have reported that the amount of television viewing is negatively correlated with both reading ability and more general school achievement