Mayer, R.E., & Gallini, J.K. (1990). When is an illustration worth ten thousand words? Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(4), 715-726.

Mayer, R.; Gallini, J.

1990

Mayer, R.E., & Gallini, J.K. (1990). When is an illustration worth ten thousand words? Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(4), 715-726.

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In three experiments, students read expository passages concerning how scientific devices work, which contained either no illustrations (control), static illustrations of the device with labels for each part (parts), static illustrations of the device with labels for each major action (steps), or dynamic illustrations showing the "off" and "on" states of the device along with labels for each part and each major action (parts-and-steps). Results indicated that the parts-and-steps (but not the other) illustrations consistently improved performance on recall of conceptual (but not nonconceptual) information and creative problem solving (but not verbatim retention), and these results were obtained mainly for the low prior-knowledge (rather than the high prior-knowledge) students. The cognitive conditions for effective illustrations in scientific text include appropriate text, tests, illustrations, and learners.

The parts-and-steps group outperformed the control group on recall of explanative information but not on recall of nonexplanative information. The parts-and-steps group also outperformed the control group on problem solving but not on verbatim retention. The parts-and-steps group outperformed the steps, parts, and control groups on recall of explanative information and on problemsolving. For high prior-knowledge students, the parts-and-steps, steps, parts, and control groups do not seem to differ in explanative recall and in problem solving.

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