Learning from News: Effects of Message Consistency and Medium on Recall and Inference Making

The authors hypothesized that information consistent with an evoked knowledge structure will tend to reinforce the structure. However, inconsistent information will tend to produce greater amounts of free recall because the inconsistencies will become salient. Finally, inconsistent information in text form will tend to produce more recall than inconsistent information presented on television or on the radio. The authors gave subjects consistent and inconsistent information on two topics, forest fire (harmful or medicinal to the environment) and population growth (good or bad for the society). These factors were also varied by medium of presentation used. Subjects were tested for recall and willingness to make inferences. Subjects receiving consistent information were most willing to infer while those receiving inconsistent information were more likely to remember more facts from the stimulus. Mode of presentation had little effect.