STUDY ABOUT THE EFFECTS OF HYPERTEXT IN READING COMPREHENSION AND TEXTUAL MEMORY IN CHILDREN OF PRIMARY EDUCATION

The hypertext format brings a new dimension to reading by adding a semantic network structure to our own writing that increases the chances of relating concepts and ideas as we navigate through it. This thesis seeks to examine the effects that the hypertext format can have on reading comprehension and memory in primary education, based on the theories of information processing and comprehension processes and memory in the field of psychology and pedagogy. This research aims to study the differences between the comprehension and memory of a given textual content presented in linear form and in hypertext form to two groups of students in the fifth year,of primary education, whether they are significant and to indicate in which way these differences occur to provide more accurate knowledge on current educational tools in the digital imaging program initiated by the context of primary classrooms in Catalonia. It is based on the hypothesis that the processing of information in hypertext format improves consolidation and long and short term storage due to the structure of nodes (fragments) of information as a network, making it similar to the shape of neuronal organization of the human brain, as well as the operation by association of ideas and concepts of the human mind. Because the information in the form of ideas, concepts, diagrams and mental images organized in the human mind through an extensive neural network, the information processed and consolidated following the same patterns of association and connectivity between nodes is related faster to those already established as knowledge in the brain and therefore assimilated more quickly, allowing a deeper and lasting storage time.