Tailoring the Mode of Information Presentation: Effects on Younger and Older Adults' Attention and Recall of Online Information

Abstract

Previous studies have mainly focused on tailoring message content to match individual characteristics and preferences. This study investigates the effect of a website tailored to individual preferences for the mode of information presentation, compared to 4 nontailored websites on younger and older adults' attention and recall of information, employing a 5 (condition: tailored vs. text, text with illustrations, audiovisual, combination) × 2 (age:younger vs. older [≥65] adults) design (N = 559). The mode-tailored condition (relative to nontailored conditions) improved attention to the website and, consequently, recall in older adults, but not in younger adults. Younger adults recalled more from nontailored information such as text only or text with illustrations, relative to tailored information.Keywords: Modality, Tailoring, Mode of Presentation, Older Adults, Aging, Attention, Processing, Memory, Information Recall, Multimodal Information. doi:10.1111/hcre.12097 Until now, online tailoring studies have mainly focused on adjusting the content of a message to match recipients' individual characteristics (e.g., demographics) and preferences (e.g., relevant topics). Tailoring, or providing information that is relevant to one unique person and their situation, is proposed to be more effective than generic and static information (Rimer & Kreuter, 2006). Although content tailoring (Rimer & Kreuter, 2006) has led to positive results, for example, in the health domain, the effect sizes have been small (Noar, Benac, & Harris, 2007). Therefore, novel tailoring strategies are strongly encouraged as a way to increase message effectiveness (Smit, Linn, & Van Weert, 2015).Corresponding author: Minh Hao Nguyen; e-mail: m.h.nguyen@uva.nl This article was accepted for publication under the editorship of Dr. John Courtright. Mode-Tailored Online InformationOne way to move beyond content tailoring is to tailor online information to individual preferences for the modality (i.e., mode) of information presentation . In this study, we refer to "mode tailoring" as adjusting information to match individual preferences for presentation modality, using verbal (text), visual (static illustrations), and/or audiovisual (videos) information (Mayer, 2001). Mode tailoring is important, as the way in which message content is processed and remembered very much depends on how this information is being delivered (Kreuter, Oswald, Bull, & Clark, 2000;Ritterband, Thorndike, Cox, Kovatchev, & Gonder-Frederick, 2009). The ability to correctly remember and reproduce information is often referred to as recall of information (Jansen et al., 2008;Lang, 2000). Subsequently, this study empirically tests the effect of exposure to a website that can be tailored to individual preferences for the mode of information presentation on attention and recall of information.Mode tailoring may be especially relevant for target groups that may have difficulties processing and remembering online information, such as older adults. Older adults represent the most ra...

Authors’ Reply: Response to “Older Cancer Patients’ User Experiences With Web-Based Health Information Tools: A Think-Aloud Study”

“…If possible, display options on 1 page, for example, first provide an overview with options, and then (after visitors choose what information they wish to read) the relevant information.” Limited information on a webpage would make it possible to provide patients with a large font size to enable them to avoid scrolling. We agree with Gokani et al that more research is needed on other ways of tailoring that could benefit older patients, such as mode tailoring and message frame tailoring, next to content tailoring (see work by our research group [3,4]).…”

Optimising eHealth tools for older patients: Collaborative redesign of a hospital website

“…Previous work by our group (Bol, ; Bol, Scholz et al., ) and others (Lustria et al., ; Smit, Linn, & van Weert, ) has indicated a need for tailored information provision via different modalities, particularly among older cancer patients. Therefore, an additional experimental study was conducted to investigate how online health information could be tailored to individual preferences and abilities regarding the modality of information presentation ( n ≈ 563; Nguyen, Smets, Bol, Loos, & Van Weert, ; Nguyen et al, ). “Mode tailoring”, by enabling users to self‐select whether they would like to receive the information via text, illustrations and/or videos, was effective in increasing attention to and recall of online health information, and satisfaction with the attractiveness of health websites in older adults.…”

“…“Mode tailoring”, by enabling users to self‐select whether they would like to receive the information via text, illustrations and/or videos, was effective in increasing attention to and recall of online health information, and satisfaction with the attractiveness of health websites in older adults. Based on these insights, we integrated a horizontal built‐in navigation bar, enabling viewers to self‐select whether they would like to receive the information via textual, visual and/or audiovisual information (Nguyen et al., , ; Soroka et al., ). Users could switch and change modalities at any time while viewing the information.…”

Creating a synergy effect: A cluster randomized controlled trial testing the effect of a tailored multimedia intervention on patient outcomes

“…According to this more user-initiated approach, patients can choose themselves if and how they prefer adherence support. This approach is expected to exert persuasive effects [11,40]. Future research should further explore these new approaches.…”

“…As rightfully pointed out by a recent study [12], very little work has been conducted on the underlying mechanisms of tailoring. The few studies exploring these underlying mechanism indeed found that the effects of tailored interventions are mediated by perceived relevance, attention and elaboration [12,40]. Future research is needed to examine the pathways of these processing variables to Linn, A.J., Dijk, L. van, Weert, J.C.M.…”