An important segment of army research is concerned with human factors studies in communication analysis processing. The report is on two experimental methods of gisting -- reporting in brief form the essential information in a communication -- in comparison with baseline performance in simulated on-line gisting. Twenty-four communications processors were each tested using two methods of gisting. In one method (free repeat), the processor listened once to the complete message with no option to stop or replay, preparing as complete a gist as possible, and was then free to replay the tape as he judged necessary to complete the gist. In the second method (forced repeat), the processor listened to the complete message five additional times with no option to stop or replay. The resulting gists were evaluated in terms of key items of information correctly reported, quality of gist as rated by four judges, and in the case of the free repeat method the number of times the tape was stopped and replayed in the gisting process. (Author).

An important segment of army research is concerned with human factors studies in communication analysis processing. The report is on two experimental methods of gisting -- reporting in brief form the essential information in a communication -- in comparison with baseline performance in simulated on-line gisting. Twenty-four communications processors were each tested using two methods of gisting. In one method (free repeat), the processor listened once to the complete message with no option to stop or replay, preparing as complete a gist as possible, and was then free to replay the tape as he judged necessary to complete the gist. In the second method (forced repeat), the processor listened to the complete message five additional times with no option to stop or replay. The resulting gists were evaluated in terms of key items of information correctly reported, quality of gist as rated by four judges, and in the case of the free repeat method the number of times the tape was stopped and replayed in the gisting process. (Author).