THE EFFECTS OF PICTURES ON LEARNING TO READ

Abstract

S ummary . 20 children learned to read single words that were presented together with (i) a picture of the object named by the word, (ii) a picture of an object unrelated to the word, (iii) a ‘nonsense’ picture not resembling any object, and (iv) no picture of any kind. Presence of an appropriate picture resulted in significantly fewer correct responses than any other condition. The no‐picture condition was the most favourable for learning to read, and it also resulted in largest number of correct responses after a retention interval of 28 days. Learning by massed or distributed practice over time did not affect these relationships although in all conditions distributed practice resulted in more correct responses. The results indicated that whether pictures adversely affect learning to read or not depends on the relationship between the picture and the printed word, a direct equivalence being the least favourable.

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