When Text is Not Enough: The Processing of Text and Illustration for Emerging Medical Technologies

ABSTRACT

Text and illustration are two common communication modalities that are used to facilitate public understanding of new medical technologies. However, little is known about how to effectively use text and illustrations in pairs. The effects of using different types of text and illustrations have not been clearly understood. We conducted three studies to examine the effects of displaying text (non-narrative versus narrative) and illustrations (syntactic versus semantic) as a pair on a number of important outcomes. Study 1 showed that when displayed as a pair in juxtaposition, different pairs of text and illustration did not vary uncertainty or attitudes but varied fear. Study 2 found that when displayed in sequential order, different pairs of text and illustrations caused different levels of risk perceptions but their effects on fear were not different. Study 3 replicated Studies 2 with an increased sample size and found both main and interaction effects of text and illustration types. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Illustrations
• text
• fear
• risk perception
• attitude

Acknowledgments

The studies included in this manuscript have been approved by the Institutional Review Board prior to data collection. Informed consent was obtained from the participants. The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article. The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary Material

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Qian Huang

Qian Huang is a postdoctoral research associate at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and an incoming assistant professor at the Department of Interdisciplinary and Communication studies of Miami University, Ohio. Her research interests lie in three areas: 1) cues to action in health promotion, especially vaccination, 2) perspective taking in health contexts, and 3) risk communication.

Wei Peng

Wei Peng is an assistant professor in the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University. His research examines message features and new technologies in health and risk communication.