Processing Text on the Web: The Construction of Mental Representations

Aim of the present study was to identify an appropriate hypertext structure and navigation aids that enhance the comprehensibility of hypertext and support readers in building up a mental representation of the text. It is assumed that hypertext readers construct a content representation for the comprehension of the hypertext and a text structure representation for navigation within the hypertext. If relevant dimensions of these two representations cannot be mapped onto each other, orientation problems are likely to occur. The results of this experimental study show that disadvantages of hypertext concerning orientation problems can be compensated with the aid of a graphical overview which is usable for navigation. This orientation and navigation aid is also an advantage for the speed of information retrieval. However, the coherence of the reading sequence seems to the best predictor for the quality of the mental representations of both text content and hypertext structure. An influence of the availability of cognitive resources was also shown.