This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Jones, K. S. Articles by Probst, C. A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Jones, K. S. Articles by Probst, C. A. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Does Content Affect Whether Users Remember that Web Pages were Hyperlinked?

Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas

Timothy V. Ballew

Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas

C. Adam Probst

Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas

Objective: We determined whether memory for hyperlinks improved when they represented relations between the contents of the Web pages. Background: J. S. Farris (2003) found that memory for hyperlinks improved when they represented relations between the contents of the Web pages. However, Farris's (2003) participants could have used their knowledge of site content to answer questions about relations that were instantiated via the site's content and its hyperlinks. Method: In Experiment 1, users navigated a Web site and then answered questions about relations that were instantiated only via content, only via hyperlinks, and via content and hyperlinks. Unlike Farris (2003), we split the latter into two sets. One asked whether certain content elements were related, and the other asked whether certain Web pages were hyperlinked. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 with one modification: The questions that were asked about relations instantiated via content and hyperlinks were changed so that each question's wrong answer was also related to the question's target. Results: Memory for hyperlinks improved when they represented relations instantiated within the content of the Web pages. This was true when (a) questions about content and hyperlinks were separated (Experiment 1) and (b) each question's wrong answer was also related to the question's target (Experiment 2). Conclusion: The accuracy of users' mental representations of local architecture depended on whether hyperlinks were related to the site's content. Application: Designers who want users to remember hyperlinks should associate those hyperlinks with content that reflects the relation between the contents on the Web pages.

Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Vol. 50, No. 5, 763-771 (2008)
DOI: 10.1518/001872008X354147


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?