Hypertext has been attributed to reading comprehension difficulties. Yet under certain conditions, hypertexts with the appropriate semantic organization have been found to facilitate comprehension and recall. To address these issues, this study will involve hypertext readers from two groups: (i) undergraduate experts in Psychology who are Neuroscience novices, and (ii) undergraduate experts in Neuroscience who are Psychology novices. The readers will traverse three web sites associated with three different content domains for the purposes of generating summaries of the content domain on those websites. In addition, some web sites will present material to readers in a linear sequential format while other web sites will present material to readers in a hypertext format. Half of the hypertext formats will be "fully connected" (i.e., a reader will be able to traverse from any point in the web site to any other point), while the other half of the hypertext formats will be "semantically organized" (i.e., readers will be allowed to make their own traversal decisions but their decision choices will be restricted to traversing between semantically related web pages). Thus, improved navigation and memory performance for the semantic theory driven hypertext environment relative to the linear text environment and meshed-hypertext environment is expected for experts. Novices, unfamiliar with semantic structure of the expository hypertexts, should be most effective at navigating and recalling information presented within a linear text environment. This study will attempt to investigate how the previously defined factors of domain knowledge and content presentation influence web site traversal strategies and the organization of web site summaries. Classical data analysis will be used to identify these qualitative phenomena. In addition, Knowledge Digraph Contribution analysis (a theoretically-oriented statistically-robust categorical regression time-series analysis) of sequential structure in navigation patterns and student responses will be used to obtain a more detailed quantitative understanding of the data in terms of specific semantic network theories of knowledge organization.
The long-term objective of this project is to support advancements in our scientific understanding of human comprehension in the hypertext environment. An improved understanding of hypertext comprehension will not only advance general understanding of human cognition but also will advance understanding of the conditions for designing web sites which are easier to understand. This project will provide cognitive psychologists, web designers, and Human-Computer Interaction specialists with new ways of observing effects of content presentation and domain knowledge upon navigation patterns and production data. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.
