Larger Font Size Research Articles

Interplay Between the Object and Its Symbol: The Size-Congruency Effect.

Grounded cognition suggests that conceptual processing shares cognitive resources with perceptual processing. Hence, conceptual processing should be affected by perceptual processing, and vice versa. The current study explored the relationship between conceptual and perceptual processing of size. Within a pair of words, we manipulated the font size of each word, which was either congruent or incongruent with the actual size of the referred object. In Experiment 1a, participants compared object sizes that were referred to by word pairs. Higher accuracy was observed in the congruent condition (e.g., word pairs referring to larger objects in larger font sizes) than in the incongruent condition. This is known as the size-congruency effect. In Experiments 1b and 2, participants compared the font sizes of these word pairs. The size-congruency effect was not observed. In Experiments 3a and 3b, participants compared object and font sizes of word pairs depending on a task cue. Results showed that perceptual processing affected conceptual processing, and vice versa. This suggested that the association between conceptual and perceptual processes may be bidirectional but further modulated by semantic processing. Specifically, conceptual processing might only affect perceptual processing when semantic information is activated. The current study

Patient-perceived content and formatting expectations for prescription container labeling

ObjectivesThe objectives of the study were to identify patient expectations for prescription label content and formatting and to explore how United States Pharmacopeia Chapter 17 Standards for prescription container labeling meet patient expectations. DesignFocus group. SettingSt. Louis, Missouri, in July and August 2014. ParticipantsPatients 18 years and older who were taking at least 2 chronic prescription medications and managing their medications independently. Main Outcome MeasureQualitative themes. InterventionNot applicable. MethodsFive focus groups (17 total participants) were conducted in St. Louis in 2014. Focus groups were audio-recorded and consent was obtained from the participants. The audio files were professionally transcribed. Atlas.ti software (version 7.5.3) was used to analyze the transcript data, which were then coded to identify key themes. To ensure consistency of interpretation, a constant comparative analytic framework approach was used. ResultsAnalysis produced 6 themes related to patient perceptions and expectations of prescription label content and formatting: importance of drug name, dose, and directions; lack of side effects on the label; improved organization and larger font size; using the color red; lack of familiarity with auxiliary labels; and the importance of pharmacy information. Themes focused on how patients use prescription labels and the relative value of different aspects of prescription container labeling. ConclusionsPatient-perceived prescription content and formatting expectations for prescription container labeling were generally consistent with published USP Chapter 17 guidelines. The importance of pharmacy phone numbers, white space, and highlighting were noteworthy.

Physical and psychological health, social trust, and financial situation for persons with Usher syndrome type 1

The article describes physical health, psychological health, social trust, and financial situation in persons with deafblindness due to Usher syndrome type 1 (USH1) in comparison with a cross-section of the Swedish population. Persons with USH1 were recruited through the Swedish Usher database. Totally, 87 adults received the Health on Equal Terms (HET) questionnaire. The HET was adjusted, thus the questions were translated into Swedish sign language, and a large font size, better contrast, and a structure compatible with the Braille script reader were also provided. The questionnaire comprises a wide range of domains related to health and wellbeing. In all, 60 persons responded (60% women, mean age: 49 years, range: 21–79 years). The persons with USH1 were compared to a cross section of the Swedish population that included 5738 individuals (56% women, mean age: 49 years, range: 16–84 years). Significant differences in physical health, psychological health, social trust, and financial situation as well as the odds ratio adjusted for sex and age, and its 95% confidence interval are reported. The psychological health, social trust, and financial situation of persons with USH1 were significantly poorer compared to the reference group although this was not the case for physical health. Persons with USH1 only expressed significantly more problems with headache compared to the cross section of the Swedish population. The respondents revealed major problems with fatigue, loss of confidence, and suicide thoughts and attempts. Major social trust and financial problems were reported in terms of refraining going out alone, not receiving help, having no one with whom to share thoughts, and confide in and being unable to obtain 15.000 SEK (approximately US$1.724 or €1.544) in the case of an unforeseen situation. To identify factors associated with physical health, psychological health, social trust, and financial situation is important in the design of future rehabilitation strategies for persons with USH1. The high level of psychological distress and lack of social trust reported could be related to ontological insecurity, as well as lack of recognition from others. Special attention must be devoted to suicide behavior.

The influence of perceptual information on control processes involved in self-regulated learning: evidence from item selection.

Previous research has shown that perceptual information such as font size has an impact on learners' judgments of their own learning. The present study extended the font-size effect to examine the influence of font size on how people decide which items to study first. Across three experiments, we showed that participants preferred to first select items presented in a large font size (48 pt) more than items presented in a small font size (18 pt), and that this effect continued even when more diagnostic cues (difficulty and reward value of items) were presented, suggesting that perceptual cues can strongly influence control process involved in self-regulated learning. These results provide evidence that perceptual information plays a key role in higher cognition. Moreover, our results also suggest that control processes are influenced by multiple cues, including font size, difficulty of items, and the reward value of items.

Children’s Literature Reviews: Move Over, Frog and Toad: Transitional Chapter Books

This column focuses on transitional chapter books for beginning readers. Transitional chapter books serve as a bridge between picturebooks and more complex novels.They usually have a number of common characteristics such as a table of contents, larger font sizes, brief chapters with some illustrations interspersed throughout, and less than 100 pages of text.

A Study on the Evaluation of UX Elements for Users’ Selective Attention to the Transparent Public Display

Background The transparent display is being developed and drawing public attention due to its physical characteristics. It is expected to be used in multiple domains like windshields, medical devices and etc. This study focused on UX visualization elements for users’ selective attention to the transparent public display. Methods Users" cognition theory-related researches were collected especially focussing on attention, visualization, interaction and transparent display. An experiment system was designed assuming a store’s show window using a transparent display, and numbers of possible UX elements were extracted through the experiment. Results The screen’s transparency, brightness, and font size’s effect on the subject’s screen recognition rate were validated. Low transparency (transparency=20), low brightness, and large font size made the subject’s screen recognition rate higher. Conclusion In this research, a transparent public display’s UX visual elements ? transparency, color, font size - affecting users’ selective attention were verified. Visualization elements affecting the saliency of information were proven as a key functioning factors for better selective attention. The results of this research are expected to be used as a guidelines in designing a new UX/UI for a transparent display.

Implicit Self-Importance in an Interpersonal Pronoun Categorization Task.

Object relations theories emphasize the manner in which the salience/importance of implicit representations of self and other guide interpersonal functioning. Two studies and a pilot test (total N = 304) sought to model such representations. In dyadic contexts, the self is a "you" and the other is a "me", as verified in a pilot test. Study 1 then used a simple categorization task and found evidence for implicit self-importance: The pronoun "you" was categorized more quickly and accurately when presented in a larger font size, whereas the pronoun "me" was categorized more quickly and accurately when presented in a smaller font size. Study 2 showed that this pattern possesses value in understanding individual differences in interpersonal functioning. As predicted, arrogant people scored higher in implicit self-importance in the paradigm. Findings are discussed from the perspective of dyadic interpersonal dynamics.

The font-size effect on judgments of learning: Does it exemplify fluency effects or reflect people’s beliefs about memory?

• Judgments of learning are higher for words presented in larger than smaller fonts. • Processing fluency presumably drives the effect of font size on judgments. • To date, however, no one has directly investigated the contribution of fluency. • New evidence indicates that fluency does not contribute to the font-size effect. • Font size influence judgments vis-à-vis people’s beliefs about memory. Evidence suggests that processing fluency affects many kinds of judgments. For instance, when words are presented either in large (48 point) or smaller (18 point) font sizes during study, people’s judgments of learning (JOLs) are higher for the words presented in the larger font size. This font - size effect presumably arises because items presented in a larger font size are easier to process at study, which in turn leads to higher JOLs. In the present studies, we evaluated this fluency hypothesis against an alternative one that the font-size effect occurs because people believe that words printed in a large font size are better remembered. In Experiments 1 and 2, we measured differences in processing fluency during study to evaluate whether fluency could account for any of the relationship between font size and JOLs. In Experiments 3a and 3b, college students read about the font-size experiment and then predicted whether hypothetical particpiants would better remember the large or smaller words. In Experiment 4, we evaluated whether the effect occurred for prestudy JOLs, which are made prior to studying the to-be-learned words and hence cannot be affected by processing fluency. Surprisingly, the evidence across experiments supported the belief hypothesis and did not support the fluency hypothesis. Thus, the font-size effect does not exemplify the effect of fluency on JOLs, and more generally, these outcomes suggest that measuring processing fluency is essential for establishing its role in people’s judgments and decision making.

Adoption of Self‐Protective Behaviors in Response to a Foodborne Illness Outbreak: Perspectives of Older Adults

AbstractUsing national polling data from the U.S.A., this study assessed differences between older (>64) and younger (18–64) adults in their levels of concern about getting sick from a hypothetical outbreak and their likelihood of adopting each of several protective behaviors in response to a warning and a recall. Concern levels among older adults were lower than younger adults when outbreak‐related illnesses were reported in the same state or town as the respondent, but concern among both increased as cases were reported in closer geographic proximity. Majorities of both older and younger adults reported that they were very likely to adopt a range of recommended protective behaviors, but older adults were less likely to adopt many. For example, if the outbreak was described as mild (no deaths), older adults were less likely to stop purchasing affected items and throw out affected items in the home. Under a severe scenario (with deaths), older adults were also less likely to take several actions, including throwing out the affected item, not purchasing the affected item at stores that sell groceries and not ordering the affected item in restaurants.Practical ApplicationsThe findings from this study suggest there need to be improved communications to older adults in regard to foodborne illness outbreaks. Future communications should focus more on providing actionable information regarding ways that consumers can change their behavior to reduce their risk of infection. For example, it may be important to highlight clear directions for identifying recalled units of foods or drinks so older adults can easily find them if they are in their own kitchens. Communications should also include channels that are better targeted toward older consumers, such as networks of senior services. Materials should follow guidelines that have been shown to be effective with older adults, such as including basic changes like larger font sizes and clear graphics on printed materials.

What’s in a drug name?

What’s in a drug name?

Standards for patient-friendly container labels released

The United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) recently unveiled universal standards for prescription drug container labels that are intended to make it easier for patients to take their medications as prescribed. The two-page document was unveiled in October and is officially known as United States Pharmacopeia (USP) chapter 17, “Prescription Container Labeling.” “The whole approach was to focus on what was most important for the patient,” said Gerald K. McEvoy, ASHP's assistant vice president for drug information. McEvoy is cochair of the USP Health Literacy and Prescription Container Labeling Advisory Panel, a group of independent experts who developed the new standards. According to USP, the standards provide, for the first time, “a universal approach to the format, appearance, content and language of instructions for medicines in containers dispensed by pharmacists.” The standards emphasize patient-friendly elements such as prominent placement of the most important information and the use of clear, simplified language and explicit instructions. The standards also address legibility by requiring high-contrast print, a large font size for critical information, and prudent use of white space.

Effective Intervention Strategies to Improve Health Outcomes for Cardiovascular Disease Patients with Low Health Literacy Skills: A Systematic Review

Systematic studies on the relationship between health literacy and health outcomes demonstrate that as health literacy declines, patients engage in fewer preventive health and self-care behaviors and have worse disease-related knowledge. The purpose of this study was to identify effective intervention strategies to improve health outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease and low literacy skills. This study employs the following criteria recommended by Khan Kunz, Keijnen, and Antes (2003) for systematic review: framing question, identifying relevant literature, assessing quality of the literature, summarizing the evidence, and interpreting the finding. A total of 235 articles were reviewed by the research team, and 9 articles met inclusion criteria. Although nine studies were reviewed for their health outcomes, only six studies, which had a positive quality grade evaluation were used to recommend effective intervention strategies. Interventions were categorized into three groups: tailored counseling, self-monitoring, and periodic reminder. The main strategies used to improve health outcomes of low literacy patients included tailored counseling, improved provider-patient interactions, organizing information by patient preference, self-care algorithms, and self-directed learning. Specific strategies included written materials tailored to appropriate reading levels, materials using plain language, emphasizing key points with large font size, and using visual items such as icons or color codes. With evidence-driven strategies, health care professionals can use tailored interventions to provide better health education and counseling that meets patient needs and improves health outcomes.

Effects of Font Size and Reflective Glare on Text-Based Task Performance and Postural Change Behavior of Presbyopic and Nonpresbyopic Computer Users

Nineteen young (18-35 year-old) and seven older presbyopic (55-65 year-old, wearing bifocal or progressive glasses) subjects with the same average visual acuity at near distance participated in this full-factorial, repeated measures study with two trial factors: font size (capital letter heights of 1.78, 2.23, and 3.56 mm) and reflective glare. The monitor location was fixed, but subjects were allowed to move their bodies and the chair while performing visually demanding tasks. The productivity improved up to 30% when using a large font size (average visual angle 23.4 arcmin) compared to a smaller font size (14.2 or 16.4 arcmin, p < .0001). The relative contributions of torso flexion (78%), head forward (3%), and chair reposition (4%) to changes in the viewing distance remained constant across font size conditions. Reflective glare had no effect on productivity measures but led to reduction of viewing distance ( p < .0001). There were no significant differences between the two age groups.

Late Nate in a Race (review)

Reviewed by: Late Nate in a Race Hope Morrison McCully, Emily Arnold . Late Nate in a Race; written and illus. by Emily Arnold McCully. Holiday House, 2012. 24p. (I Like to Read Books) ISBN 978-0-8234-2421-4 $14.95 Ad Gr. 1-2. This new entry in the "I Like to Read" series tells the tale of Nate, a reluctant mouse boy who would much rather sleep than participate in a running race with his siblings Jane and Jake. Nate is late to breakfast ("It is late. Nate is still not here"), but eventually his father gets him out of bed and out the door and his mother gets him signed up for the race, despite his protestations ("Nate says, 'No. I like to go slow'"). When the race begins, Nate is still standing at the starting line, until an image of his mother cheering him on comes to mind, and he starts to run as fast as he can, ultimately winning the race. That's a perplexing turnaround of questionable credibility, so there's not much dramatic satisfaction in the conclusion. Otherwise, though, this early reader makes effective use of very short sentences, a limited number of words, a simple storyline, and lots of phonetic repetition and rhyme (certain sounds are repeated in close proximity, allowing new readers multiple opportunities to practice new skills). The line and watercolor illustrations depict a serene animal village full of grass and trees and enthusiastic little critters ready for a run. McCully returns to her more streamlined style here, with her featured mice simply drawn in a slightly cartoonish, largely textureless style. The volume is formatted larger than most of its kind; the full size pages allow for lots of space and for the use of a very large font size, which may offer some appeal. This is more useful as a decoding startup than as an actual story, but those seeking to develop the early readers section of their library may want to have a closer look at Nate's misadventures. [End Page 572] Copyright © 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

The place-value of a digit in multi-digit numbers is processed automatically.

The automatic processing of the place-value of digits in a multi-digit number was investigated in 4 experiments. Experiment 1 and two control experiments employed a numerical comparison task in which the place-value of a non-zero digit was varied in a string composed of zeros. Experiment 2 employed a physical comparison task in which strings of digits varied in their physical sizes. In both types of tasks, the place-value of the non-zero digit in the string was irrelevant to the task performed. Interference of the place-value information was found in both tasks. When the non-zero digit occupied a lower place-value, it was recognized slower as a larger digit or as written in a larger font size. We concluded that place-value in a multi-digit number is processed automatically. These results support the notion of a decomposed representation of multi-digit numbers in memory.

The Human Body: Lift the Flap and Learn by P. Hédelin

Hédelin, Pascale, Robert Barborini, and Katherine Dearlove. The Human Body: Lift the Flap and Learn. Toronto: Owlkids, 2010. Print. This book provides an introduction to the human body and its functions. It is one book in the (so far) three part “Lift the Flap and Learn” series published by Owl Kids. Intended for children aged four and up, the flaps, pull tabs, rotating wheels, and sliding pieces make for an interactive reading experience. Beginning readers will definitely need help with some of the terminology. Some of the tabs were a bit sticky at first, especially the ones manipulating multiple slats, but overall the tabs seem fairly sturdy. The book begins with a simple explanation of how babies are created and born. It then progresses through descriptions and visuals of the muscular, skeletal, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, and nervous systems. The two-page section about the nervous system provides an overview of the brain, but provides limited reference to nerves in the rest of the body. The book also covers the five senses, dental health and sickness. There are messages scattered throughout about how to stay healthy; these messages encourage brushing your teeth, eating well, and getting a good night’s sleep. The cartoon-like illustrations would appeal to children, as the simplified images will not overwhelm them with anatomical detail. There is a good text to image ratio. The text is in a sufficiently large font size, and most images are quite colourful. Some true anatomical names are used. Several have pronunciations indicated in parentheses but others (such as the term bronchial) do not. These terms may pose problems for early readers. In general, this book provides a simple and accurate introduction to the human body. Recommended: 3 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Trish ChatterleyTrish is a Public Services Librarian for the John W. Scott Health Sciences Library at the University of Alberta. In her free time she enjoys dancing, gardening, and reading books of all types.

WordCloud: a Cytoscape plugin to create a visual semantic summary of networks

BackgroundWhen biological networks are studied, it is common to look for clusters, i.e. sets of nodes that are highly inter-connected. To understand the biological meaning of a cluster, the user usually has to sift through many textual annotations that are associated with biological entities.FindingsThe WordCloud Cytoscape plugin generates a visual summary of these annotations by displaying them as a tag cloud, where more frequent words are displayed using a larger font size. Word co-occurrence in a phrase can be visualized by arranging words in clusters or as a network.ConclusionsWordCloud provides a concise visual summary of annotations which is helpful for network analysis and interpretation. WordCloud is freely available at http://baderlab.org/Software/WordCloudPlugin

Assessment of Children’s Public Health Insurance Program Enrollment Applications: A Health Literacy Perspective

Introduction More than half of uninsured children in the United States qualify for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Application readability and other complex features may be barriers to enrollment for some of these families. The purpose of this study was to conduct a literary assessment of state-issued English- and Spanish-language Medicaid/CHIP Internet-based enrollment applications, including an evaluation of reading demands, layout characteristics, and document complexity. Method In May 2010, we downloaded all currently available English-language (n = 50) and Spanish-language (n = 39) Internet-based, state-issued Medicaid/CHIP enrollment applications. We estimated the reading demands of each CHIP enrollment application “Signature” page using the Lexile Analyzer. We assessed layout characteristics using the User-Friendliness Tool and we evaluated document complexity using the PMOSE/IKIRSCH scale. Results On average, Medicaid/CHIP enrollment application “Signature” pages were written at a high school reading level (English language = 12th- to 13th-grade reading level; Spanish language = 10th- to 11th-grade reading level). Five Medicaid/CHIP enrollment applications (5.6%) consistently used a 12-point or larger font size throughout. Most Medicaid/CHIP enrollment applications (n = 83; 93.3%) needed “some” or “much” improvement in the amount of white space. Document complexity ranged from level 3 (moderate) to level 5 (very high), with the majority of Medicaid/CHIP enrollment applications ranked at level 4 (high). Discussion Revisions are required in almost all state Medicaid/CHIP enrollment applications to achieve consistency and to meet standard low-literacy guidelines (e.g., written at a 6th grade or lower reading level and using a font of 12 points or larger). Additionally, to increase access to Medicaid/CHIP for eligible Hispanic children, all states should provide an online Spanish-language version of the Medicaid/CHIP enrollment application.

Precise Detection of Car License Plates by Locating Main Characters

We propose a novel method to precisely detect car license plates by locating main characters, which are printed with large font size. The regions of the main characters are directly detected without detecting the plate region boundaries, so that license regions can be detected more precisely than by other existing methods. To generate a binary image, multiple thresholds are applied, and segmented regions are selected from multiple binarized images by a criterion of size and compactness. We do not employ any character matching methods, so that many candidates for main character groups are detected; thus, we use a neural network to reject non-main character groups from the candidates. The relation of the character regions and the intensity statistics are used as the input to the neural network for classification. The detection performance has been investigated on real images captured under various illumination conditions for 1000 vehicles. 980 plates were correctly detected, and almost all non-detected plates were so stained that their characters could not be isolated for character recognition. In addition, the processing time is fast enough for a commercial automatic license plate recognition system. Therefore, the proposed method can be used for recognition systems with high performance and fast processing.

Information presentation in small screen devices: The trade-off between visual density and menu foresight

Small mobile devices are ubiquitous and must be designed with great care. One of the most serious challenges is how information on the small displays is presented optimally. This paper addresses the special problem of the increasing number of aged users. On the one hand, information displayed should be easily readable. This requires a low information density and a sufficiently large font size. On the other hand menu orientation is facilitated when the amount of information per screen is maximized and a large preview is allowed. This requires presenting as many functions as possible on the screen at a time. Thus, the tradeoff between readability and orientation demands is crucial. In the present study, this tradeoff was experimentally investigated. Two factors, font size (8 pt, 12 pt) and the size of the preview (one or five functions per screen at a time) were varied and effects on navigation performance were observed. Forty older participants solved nine common phone navigation tasks twice consecutively on a simulated mobile phone. Both factors contributed to performance, but there was a significant interaction: navigation performance was optimal when font size and the size of the preview were large. The lowest performance was obtained when the preview was small and the font size large, showing that proper orientation is more important than visibility demands. The results can be used in ergonomic guidelines to optimized information presentation on small screens.