Multi-line rows in a table are too close together

Question

For a scientific paper I use the llncs layout. There I have created a table with tabular. The first column of this table should take half of the text width. The content of this first column can be of different length and extend over several lines. I used the following code to create the table.

\documentclass[runningheads]{llncs}
%
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\centering
% stretch table over full \textwidth
\resizebox{\textwidth}{!}{
\begin{tabular}{l|lll}
\hline
Column #1 & Col #2 & Col #3 & Col #4 \ 
\hline
\parbox{6cm}{In reviewing applicants, we consider both objective criteria, such as test scores, and subjective criteria, such as leadership ability.} & negative & neutral & positive \
\parbox{6cm}{As a test for centrophobia, we measured the time fish spent in the centre of the tank in the horizontal plane.} & negative & neutral & positive \
\parbox{6cm}{The fortifications failed their only test when the New Model Army entered London in 1647 and they were levelled by Parliament the same year.} & negative & neutral & positive \
\parbox{6cm}{But Tower did better than HBO, the Boston Business Journal, and some others, where the test messages apparently fell into a cyberhole.} & negative & neutral & positive \
\parbox{6cm}{As you can see from the test reports, in the lower frequency ranges in particular, egg crates offer little value for absorption.} & negative & neutral & positive \
\end{tabular}
}
\end{table}
\end{document}

Here is the problem, that the different rows of the table are too close to each other and are also hard to distinguish.

How can I update the code to get an even, legible table stretching over the full \textwidth?

Answer 1

First I'd recommend you to avoid the use of parbox since LaTeX already has a default option to create inner paragraphs in the tabular environment

\begin{tabular}{p{6cm}|lll}
\hline
Column \#1 & Col \#2 & Col \#3 & Col \#4 \\ 
\hline
In reviewing applicants, we consider both objective criteria, such as test scores, and subjective criteria, such as leadership ability. & negative & neutral & positive \\
As a test for centrophobia, we measured the time fish spent in the centre of the tank in the horizontal plane. & negative & neutral & positive \\
The fortifications failed their only test when the New Model Army entered London in 1647 and they were levelled by Parliament the same year. & negative & neutral & positive \\
But Tower did better than HBO, the Boston Business Journal, and some others, where the test messages apparently fell into a cyberhole. & negative & neutral & positive \\
As you can see from the test reports, in the lower frequency ranges in particular, egg crates offer little value for absorption. & negative & neutral & positive \\
\end{tabular}

Here I got rid of all the parboxes and replaced the l position above for p{6cm} which does exactly the same and gets correct spacing. If you want to increase it even more you can redefine the arraystretch as suggested in this stackexchange forum, which ultimately it's coded like this:

\bgroup
\def\arraystretch{1.5}
\begin{tabular}{p{6cm}|lll}
\hline
Column \#1 & Col \#2 & Col \#3 & Col \#4 \\ 
\hline
In reviewing applicants, we consider both objective criteria, such as test scores, and subjective criteria, such as leadership ability. & negative & neutral & positive \\
As a test for centrophobia, we measured the time fish spent in the centre of the tank in the horizontal plane. & negative & neutral & positive \\
The fortifications failed their only test when the New Model Army entered London in 1647 and they were levelled by Parliament the same year. & negative & neutral & positive \\
But Tower did better than HBO, the Boston Business Journal, and some others, where the test messages apparently fell into a cyberhole. & negative & neutral & positive \\
As you can see from the test reports, in the lower frequency ranges in particular, egg crates offer little value for absorption. & negative & neutral & positive \\
\end{tabular}
\egroup

And displays like this: