This experimental study (N = 113) examined the effects of the visual presentations of data in television news on young Americans’ recall of information about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) as well as the roles of individual characteristics in this process. The results show that individuals who saw either a tabular or graphical presentation of information about STDs better remembered that information than those who only heard the anchor describe the numbers. Our study further found that participants high in quantitative media literacy recalled significantly more information than participants low in quantitative media literacy, but this individual characteristic did not moderate the relationship between style of information presentation and recall. The results support the assumptions of Limited Capacity Model of mediated message processing. It also represents the first step in linking individual differences to the processing of information from infographics from television news.
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