Attention: Chickens are Being Fed Vegetarians!!!

I don't think much more needs to be said about the graphic (see figure 1). Although this label is simply funny, this problem could be serious when it pertains to very complex information. Something as seemingly meaningless as a misplaced modifier could really affect how your information is understood. Imagine if you had a complex process, in which you had steps like below: 

1. Completely tighten the bolt against the bulkhead that has a red "x" marked on it.

Does the bulkhead or the bolt have the red "x" marked on it? In carrying out processes, you are already demanding a significant amount of cognitive ability from your reader. First they must find the step. Then they must read the step. Then they must understand the step. Then they must remember the step. Finally they must carry out the step.

Errors in the process, at any level, can create cognitive overload--the phenomenon that forces the mind to begin dumping information because it is working extra hard to understand or remember something. Once cognitive overload occurs, steps can be missed or understood or remembered incorrectly. In the example above, a reader has to take the extra time to understand what the step is indicating: that the bolt is highlighted with a red "x". Thus, the process of trying to understand the step could lead to cognitive overload, and the subsequent, associated results will occur.

Again, in the case of the egg carton, it is understood that the chickens were eating vegetables, not vegetarians (though pointing out that the chickens were not carnivores is, in my humble opinon, a bit superfluous). But in an important process, or in any information that must be quickly understood, it is absolutely imperative that the information be edited for these types of mistakes.

What's more, if you plan on translating the information, these types of errors will likewise affect the meaning of the information after translation.

For technical, professional and business communication help in the Las Cruces, NM area, visit Lanier Infomedia. 

Last update: 27-03-2009 13:47