Qualified scientific inference

Museum designers sometimes add short explanatory labels beside unfamiliar objects to help visitors remember what they have seen. Researchers displayed the same set of objects to 38 visitors; 19 visitors saw concise explanatory labels, while 19 saw labels containing only object names and dates. One day later, visitors who had seen explanatory labels recalled a median of 20 object facts, compared with 12 facts recalled by visitors who had seen basic labels. The visitors viewed a single temporary exhibit, and recall was measured only one day later. The study suggests that concise explanatory labels can improve short-term recall of exhibit information under similar viewing conditions.