Does Guiding Toward Task-Relevant Information Help Improve Graph Processing and Graph Comprehension of Individuals with Low or High Numeracy? An Eye-Tracker Experiment

Carmen Keller and Alex Junghans

Medical Decision Making, 2017, vol. 37, issue 8, 942-954

Abstract: Background. Individuals with low numeracy have difficulties with understanding complex graphs. Combining the information-processing approach to numeracy with graph comprehension and information-reduction theories, we examined whether high numerates’ better comprehension might be explained by their closer attention to task-relevant graphical elements, from which they would expect numerical information to understand the graph. Furthermore, we investigated whether participants could be trained in improving their attention to task-relevant information and graph comprehension. Design. In an eye-tracker experiment ( N = 110) involving a sample from the general population, we presented participants with 2 hypothetical scenarios (stomach cancer, leukemia) showing survival curves for 2 treatments. In the training condition, participants received written instructions on how to read the graph. In the control condition, participants received another text. We tracked participants’ eye movements while they answered 9 knowledge questions. The sum constituted graph comprehension. We analyzed visual attention to task-relevant graphical elements by using relative fixation durations and relative fixation counts. Results. The mediation analysis revealed a significant ( P

Keywords: numeracy; graph comprehension; visual attention; survival curve; training (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:medema:v:37:y:2017:i:8:p:942-954

DOI: 10.1177/0272989X17713473

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