Reviews research examining the effects of pictorial illustrations on learning from textbooks; notes differences in purpose, approach, and methodology; identifies some shortcomings; and offers suggestions for future research. Forty references are listed. (FM)

Suggests that it is sometimes useful to consider information as being encoded as images, sometimes as language, and sometimes as propositions, and describes research that provides evidence of processing in all these forms. (Author)

Examines visual cognitive processes having to do with perception, the assimilation of new information, and learning by analogy, and identifies instructional strategies to control each process. Discussion of relationships between visual learning and instruction includes implications for research and design. An extensive bibliography is provided.…

This study, designed to determine whether contextual organizers presented before prose passages can improve learning and retention among undergraduates with no prior knowledge of the subject, compared the effects of two types of organizers--images and their verbal equivalents--as well as organizers versus a control group. Twenty-five references…

The first experiment determined that verbal interference (shadowing) was detrimental to the subjects' memory of words and high similarity pictures; the second, designed to minimize the possibility that students would sort through the pictures, indicated that verbal interference did not decrease memory of high similarity pictures. (Author/JEG)

Presents results of research into the relationship between two anxiety measures and performance on a visual concept acquisition task for university undergraduates. Analysis of variance indicates a significant interaction between cueing treatment and scores on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Further research using different populations and…

Argues that visual literacy should be studied through a cognitive approach, and describes principles of punctuating and structuring that can be used to develop a new standard of experimental validity. Triadic interaction theory and the role of strategies in research are discussed, as well as a new orientation to research. (BK)

This study, to determine whether complexity of detail, scale, and background help subjects to learn technical information, demonstrated no significant difference between groups. One group used the existing self-contained learning package with many complex visuals; the other group used lessons identical in the audio portion but containing…

Describes a statistical integration of findings from 74 studies of visual-based college teaching. Results indicating that students in such instruction generally learned slightly more but that there was no effect on course completion rates or student attitudes are discussed, and 19 references are provided. (Author/BK)