The effect of highlighting on processing and memory of central and peripheral text information: evidence from eye movements

The present study investigated the effect of text highlighting on online processing and memory of central and peripheral information. We compared processing time (using eye-tracking methodology) and recall of central and peripheral information for three types of highlighting: (a) highlighting of central information, (b) highlighting of peripheral information and (c) no highlighting. Results indicate that highlighting central information decreased the amount of rereading of peripheral information, whereas highlighting peripheral information increased the amount of rereading of peripheral information. Processing and recall of central information did not differ across highlighting conditions but were higher than the processing and recall of peripheral information (i.e., centrality effects). These findings suggest that highlighting influences processing of text but that this influence occurs after initial processing, interacts with centrality and is strongest for text information that is relatively peripheral to the overall coherence and meaning of the text. Proficient readers apparently selectively process and store central information regardless of what is highlighted in the text.