| Abstract: |
Disorientation and navigation inefficiency are the consequences of the fragmented and incoherent structure of most hypertexts. To avoid these negative effects, researchers recommend, among other thing, an interface with a structural overview of the relations between sections. Some authors have found that with such an overview, information is looked up faster and remembered better. In this study, the question was examined as to whether a structural overview also leads to a deeper understanding. Forty students read a hypertext about the effects of ultraviolet radiation in one of two presentation conditions (structural overview condition, but just in the format of a list). After reading, they got text based questions and also inference questions. The results supported our hypothesis that a structural overview may hinder the understanding ofless knowledgeable readers, because it draws their attention to the textual macrostructure at the expense of attention to the microstructure of the text. |
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