Learned effects of structural components of newscasts on viewers’ information processing: The case of Stings

This article proposes that syntactic features of newscasts can act as learned motivational stimuli determining both viewers’ attention and memory for information. An experiment was conducted in which we manipulated the presence of stings (a type of widely used audiovisual connector) and the arousal levels of stories, while participants’ attention and recall of information were measured. The results suggest that stings elicit motivational activation among viewers; however, differences in motivational activation were observed depending on whether it was due to arousing content or to stings. These results highlight the relevance of accounting for learned motivational processes in media information processing research.This research was partially supported by Televisió de Catalunya; by the Center for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI) (PR. 068- 2007) within the frame of the call CENIT 2006; by two grants from the Spanish Government, PSI2011-23033, and CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 CSD2007-00048; by one grant from the Catalan Government, SGR 2009-1521; and by one grant from the European Research Council under the European Community’s Seventh Framework (FP7/2007-2013 Cooperation grant agreement 613465-AThEME)