Introduction
The limited capacity theory (Lang, 2000) views television messages consist of
structural features and content variables that interact with each other and influence the
viewers’ processing of the messages in an interrelated fashion. The structural features
include production pacing, message complexity, sound effects, motion, camera angle and
so on, to name a few. The content related variables that have received much attention
include emotion (valence and arousal), humor, and violence. Understanding how
television messages are processed involves identifying important structure- and content-
related features and assessing what roles these features play in the message processing,
and further how these features interact with one another.
The limited capacity model (LCM) of mediated message processing (Lang, 2000)
offers a theoretical explanation of how the structural and content related features in
television may affect message processing. As mentioned, the distinction between
structural feature and content feature can be fuzzy although its implications on
information processing may be significant. For instance, narrative structure can be
viewed as both structural feature and content feature depending on its definition.
Narrative structure as a way of presenting information may be classified as a structural
feature (e.g., same content presented in two different ways, chronological versus non-
chronological) whereas narrative structure as a different type of message can be a
content-related variable (e.g., episodic versus semantic content).
Anderson and Burns (1991) differentiate the ways messages affect attention in
information processing. It is implied that some features may contribute to attracting
attention while others may contribute to maintaining attention. People can attend to a
certain stimulus automatically (attention as selection) but may not stay tuned longer. That
is, they may shift their attention immediately away (e.g., switching the channel to
another) if the stimulus fails to hold their attention. In order for a message to be
thoroughly processed, it must contain both attention getting features and attention holding
(maintaining) features. Studies using the limited capacity model have found that
production pacing, defined as scene changes or camera changes, affects attention through
automatic allocation of mental resources. However, it would not make sense to say it is
the number of scene changes that holds the viewer’s attention throughout. What hold the
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Convention