Comparing the Effects of News Content on the Level of Recall and Attention of Students

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the role of news content in the level of recall and attention of students. This study was experimental with simultaneous inter-subject and between-subject designs. Out of male and female undergraduate and postgraduate students of state universities in Tehran during the academic year of 2018-2019, 60 were selected first by cluster and then purposefully sampling. The instruments used were News Tracking Questionnaire of Broadcasting, Recalled Questionnaire, Eye Tracking System, News Impact Scale, and pieces of news that were performed on the sample, and data were analyzed by SPSS21 software. The mixed analysis of variance test showed that the news content of network 1 and News more than networks 2 and 3 have cognitively loaded content (p= 0.01) and men remember cognitive elements more than women and women remember emotional elements (p=0.001). Also, the duration of the fixation of men on the news was more than women, which indicates more attention and cognitive involvement of men (p=0.001). Therefore, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting must present the news content cognitively or emotionally, depending on the gender of the audience, to attract more attention and recall of the audience.

Keywords

• attention
• cognitive content
• emotional content
• recall
• students