Infographics and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM): Differences between Visual and Textual Health Messages

Effective health communication is vital to improving health outcomes. One increasingly popular form of health communication is the use of infographics. Despite its popularity, there is a lack of empirical investigation regarding its information processing mechanism. We applied the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to study the conditions that lead to elaboration. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups: a text-only health message and a health infographic. Results showed that the infographic had better image appeal rating than the text-only message, and the group that viewed the infographic reported greater elaboration. In addition, for both groups, prior knowledge, ease of understanding, and image appeal had effects on elaboration. Presentation format (text-only vs infographic) interacted with prior knowledge to impact elaboration. Our findings demonstrate that visual design cannot be sidelined as a peripheral interest, but should be positioned as one of the focal points in health communication research.