Learning and Retrieval of Numerical Information from Newspaper Texts and Data Visualizations in Congruent and Incongruent Conditions

Visualizing numerical information in graphs to facilitate processing from text is now standard practice. This study investigated how congruency between information in real-life newspaper articles and accompanying graphs affects memory and learning. Using articles from the Czech newspaper Deník N, the experiment compared three conditions: congruent (data in text and graph aligned), incongruent (data in text and graph differed), and graph-only (numerical data removed from text). Participants read three articles and were assessed for information gain via multiple-choice tests. Findings suggest that congruent conditions facilitated the retention of numerical data, whereas incongruent and graph-only conditions impaired performance. These results have practical implications for media and education; ensuring information congruency is vital for effective data acquisition and the successful use of visualizations.