The Impact of Linear Versus Nonlinear Listening to Radio News on Recall and Comprehension

Abstract

This study examines the effect of mode of listening to radio news on cognitive processes. An experimental design using 82 undergraduates from Kuwait University was employed to test the research hypotheses. The stimulus is a real newscast that was recorded and manipulated into four versions in line with the research problem: Traditional radio newscast, online newscast played with one click, linear interactive netcast with a click for each news item, and a support activity condition in which additional links for details were added to each link. The study showed that nonlinear news listening yields better levels of news recall and comprehension. Moderate levels of interactivity on sites of radio news caused better memory performance compared to lower and higher levels of interactivity.