Examines psychological concepts and theories about people's restrictions in processing information, and relates the concepts and theories to multiple resource theory. Applies this approach to television viewing, and discusses four separate limiting factors. (SR)

Investigates whether selective attention to a particular television modality resulted in different levels of attention to the visual and auditory modalities. Finds that subjects were able to focus on a particular message channel but that reactions to cues were faster when the audio channel contained the most information and when viewers focused on…

Surveys children and parents to examine children's active, conscious cognitive processing of television program information during home viewing. Finds that children's mental effort investment varies as a function of viewer age and the type of program being viewed. (SR)

Investigates long-standing familiarity with subtitled movies and processing efficiency as variables of total time spent in the subtitled area. Rules out subtitle reading resulting from habit from long-term experience. Suggests that reading subtitles is preferred because of efficiency in following a movie. (SR)

Examines psychophysiological and cognitive processing of television events to see what kinds of contextual information might be stored as a result of both real and fictional television events and mediated and unmediated television events. Examines decision processes that use this information. Suggests that television may result in contextual…

Finds that, when a censorship disclaimer on a television news story is assessed for its narrative meaning, capacity is increased, and more thought elaboration about the news story takes place. Suggests that disclaimers may be an effective device in messages that are not complex or cognitively demanding but that their effects may be neutralized by…

Uses an information-processing perspective to illustrate how television viewing may affect social judgements. Posits heuristic processing as a mechanism that can explain why heavier television viewing results in higher first-order cultivation judgments (those requiring estimates of set size). (SR)

Explores the role of news teasers on memory and attention for commercials in evening newscasts. Finds that they enhance moderately the primacy-recency pattern found in visual and verbal memory scores. Finds that news teasers appear to have an effect on processing strategies employed by viewers. (SR)

Investigates whether background television produces structural interference with aspects of cognitive processing. Finds a significant deleterious effect on a geometric analogies and completion task involving visuo-spatial processing and marginal improvement on a parallel verbal analogy test. Shows that concurrent television exposure had no…

Investigates the cultivation hypothesis by testing two cognitive processes hypothesized to allow viewers to construct television-biased beliefs. Finds the basic cultivation result replicated, but neither process hypothesis was supported. (SR)

As universities gain access to satellite delivery systems, faculty are asking questions about how information processing varies between print versus television delivery systems. A study compared 68 undergradaute adults' information processing activity when the same message is presented in print vs. on television. Results reveal little differences…

Based on the associational nature of memory, the distinction between episodic and semantic memory, and the notion of memory strength, a model was developed of the role of emotion in the memory of television commercials. The model generated the following hypotheses: (1) emotional commercials will more likely be recalled than nonemotional…

Viewing television requires mental effort. Among the findings in this study, results indicated that more mental effort was required to process simple video and auditory information than complex information because the cognitive system is activated to a higher degree by complex messages and thus processes information more efficiently. (PD)

Examines the relative contributions of both verbal ability and prior knowledge to comprehension and memory for a televised movie, in both immediate and delayed recall conditions. Suggests that, although both factors aid in the comprehension process, they do so in different ways. (SR)

A study investigated the effects of local (momentary) and global (whole program) involvement in program context and the effects of message complexity on the retention of television commercials. Sixteen commercials, categorized as simple video/simple audio through complex video/complex audio were edited into two globally high- and two globally…