Citation

Gunter B, Furnham A. Pers. Individ. Dif. 1986; 7(6): 829-837.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1986, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0191-8869(86)90081-4

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to compare recall of news information presented in different media. Four news items, two about violent and two about non-violent topics, were presented to 117 male and female Ss either in their original audio-visual or TV modality (narrative plus film), in audio-only (narrative soundtrack minus film) or in print (written narrative transcript). Ss were tested for cued recall immediately after presentation. All Ss also filled out an Eysenck Personality Questionnaire to provide personality measures of Extraversion, Neuroticism and Psychoticism. Results showed that recall was best from print and worst from the audio-visual modality. Violent content was on the whole better recalled than non-violent material. Males recalled violent news better than did females, especially following audio-visual presentation. Personality factors were related to recall of violent news in the audio-visual modality. Introversion, weaker neuroticism and strong psychoticism predicted better recall of violent news in the audio-visual modality. Results are discussed in relation to previous findings.