What is better-facts or stories? information retention in Indian college students when exposed to textbook versus narrative formats

We investigated short-term and long-term information retention of stories versus expositions among -ndian college students by communicating information about personality disorders (PDs) through characters from popular realistic ?ction narratives or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Research reports mixed ?ndings (Fischer Thies, Kromka Goodboy, 18 Wolfe Woodwyk, 1) with limited evidence of such studies from -ndia. --T Gandhinagar students read a short story and answered multiple- choice answer Uuestions about it (MC5s immediate retention). From this, 1 students read information about PDs from the manual ( students: one PD : two PDs in easy-to-understand language), and 1 students read character stories from novels having the same PDs, followed by answering MC5s. After one week, they answered rearranged MC5s from Day 1. Participants observing two PDs preferred stories (n!8) over facts. -ndependent samples t-tests revealed that the �facts� group observing one PD performed better ?short-term retentionA (G1: M!., SD!. G: M!., SD!.3 t(8)!.1, p!., Cohen�s d!.). Both groups performed eUually on other parameters. Possible reasons: Missing ?good? story features (e.g., little information to produce vivid mental images) Even with similar word counts, more words may be reUuired in one format to explain the information better Sometimes, narratives add irrelevant details, distracting readers. Some participants revealed that they converted facts into a story or associated it with some real-lifemovie character (recollection#). Some participants recognized some MC5s on Day (familiarity#). Findings highlight the importance of optimizing information presentation to minimize audiences� mental effort for effective understanding.