Searching for newspaper headlines printed in capitals or lower-case letters

Abstract

264 ADULTS SEARCHED FOR HEADLINES WHICH WERE PRINTED 3 TIMES IN VARIOUS MEMBERS OF THE TIMES GROUP OF TYPEFACES. THERE WERE 2 NEWS SHEETS, AND A 2 * 2 FACTORIAL DESIGN WAS USED TO COMPARE PAIRS OF ALTERNATIVE PRINTINGS. HEADLINES PRINTED IN TITLING OR EXTENDED TITLING CAPITALS WITH HEIGHTS ACCORDING TO THEIR IMPORTANCE TOOK RELIABLY (P < .01) LONGER TO LOCATE THAN WHEN PRINTED IN BOLD LOWER-CASE LETTERS WHOSE X-HEIGHTS APPROXIMATELY MATCHED THE HEIGHTS OF THE CAPITAL LETTERS. SUBSIDIARY HEADLINES PRINTED IN SMALLER LETTERS ABOVE OR BELOW THE MAIN HEADLINES DISTRACTED ATTENTION FROM THE MAIN HEADLINES (P < .05). WHEN MOST OF THE MAIN HEADLINES WERE PRINTED IN LOWER-CASE LETTERS, THE SUBSIDIARY HEADLINES WERE MORE LIKELY TO ATTRACT ATTENTION WHEN THEY WERE PRINTED IN CAPITALS THAN WHEN PRINTED IN LOWER-CASE LETTERS OF THE SAME POINT SIZE (P < .05). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)