Publish at April 06 2010 Updated November 27 2025
In a laboratory experiment developed by three students at the Missouri School of Journalism, The Effect of Searching Versus Surfing on Cognitive and Emotional Responses to Online News (.pdf), 82 participants, connected to various devices measuring their emotional response and intellectual activity, were asked to search for news relevant to their concerns, or simply to look at news without preconceived ideas.
The process was separated into two stages: "getting there" and "being there". It seems that the way in which you get to the news (whether by the will to search or simply by surfing) partly determines the intensity of what you do once you've arrived.
The results came as no surprise: those who searched for news provided stronger emotional and intellectual responses, and understood and retained more details of what they read than those who simply browsed from site to site with no prior plans.
Several interpretations are possible, but it seems that prior activation of brain functions (asking a question) leads to greater penetration and processing of information. We can also suspect that this principle applies just as well a posteriori: for example, if we ask ourselves how this principle applies, we're more likely to remember it.
So, pedagogically, when faced with a body of information in a course, posing a problem or a question makes learners more active in their choice and reading, just as asking a question about the application of data after reading will often lead to rereading.
Apparently, what you get through effort (intellectual) or commitment (emotional) is more valuable than what you get unsought or through mere superficial attraction.
At Thot Cursus, we've long found that the simple act of setting ourselves a weekly theme leads us to discover resources and make connections we'd never have made without this principle of questioning. Better still, we're more satisfied with what we find than if we'd simply received the article topics... CQFD.
Download: Wise, K., Kim, H. J., & Kim, J. (2009). The Effect of Searching Versus Surfing on Cognitive and Emotional Responses to Online News. Journal of Media Psychology, 21(2), 49-59.
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