When is an illustration worth ten thousand words?

“Physically integrated presentation formats have been suggested as an alternative to split-source instructions (Chandler & Sweller, 1991, 1992, 1996; Mayer & Anderson, 1991, 1992; Mayer & Gallini, 1990; Sweller, Chandler, Tierney, & Cooper, 1990; Tarmizi & Sweller, 1988; Ward & Sweller, 1990).”

“Prior studies have shown that spatial ability (Mayer & Sims, 1994), information coordination ability (Yee, Hunt, & Pellegrino, 1991), and experience ( Mayer & Gallini, 1990 ) can modify to some extent the effects found above.”

“In a study involving printed words and illustrations in a textbook environment ( Mayer & Gallini, 1990, Experiment 2), the words-and-pictures group generated 68% more creative solutions than the words-only group, yielding an effect size of 1.00.”

“Because previous studies have demonstrated that some instructional effects were stronger for low-experience learners than for high-experience learners (Mayer & Gallini, 1990; Mayer & Sims, 1994), we included only low-experience students in our study.”

“Consistent with this prediction, we found that previous research on text and illustrations explaining how various systems work has yielded a contiguity effect; students are better able to transfer what they have learned from a science textbook when text and illustrations are presented next to each other on the page ra…”

“Physically integrated or embedded formats were demonstrated to be an effective alternative to “split-source” instructions (split-attention effect; e.g., Mayer and Gallini 1990; Sweller et al. 1990; Tarmizi and Sweller 1988).”

“For example, we found that students who received multiframe illustrations containing verbal descriptions coordinated within each frame were better able to solve transfer problems than students who received illustrations with the same verbal information located within a separate paragraph elsewhere on the page (Mayer,…”

“Theories of mental models (e.g., Gentner and Stevens 1983, Mayer and Gallini 1990) also might be used.”

“First, previous studies have shown that simultaneous presentation of illustrations and verbal labels in instructional texts resulted in better problem-solving transfer than did presenting illustrations without verbal labels (Mayer, 1989b; Mayer & Gallini, 1990 ).”

“As a representative example, Mayer and Gallini (1990) conducted three experiments dealing with scientific devices (see Fig.”

“Other limitations include the failure to obtain significant main effects for highlighting in Experiment 1 and for signaling in Experiment 3. These manipulations may not have been effective because the base passage was already concise and well organized, with the main steps in the causal chain clearly presented (Mayer,…”

“…who received words alone (Mayer, 1989, Experiments 1 and 2; Mayer & Anderson, 1991, Experiment 2a; Mayer & Anderson, 1992, Experiments 1 and 2; Mayer et al., 1996, Experiment 2; Mayer & Gallini, 1990, Experiments 1, 2, and 3; Moreno & Mayer, 1999, Experiment 1; Moreno & Mayer, 2002a, Experiment 1).”

“For example, in a classic study, Mayer and Gallini (1990) showed that students with low prior knowledge scored highest on conceptual recall and problem solving in conditions that combined text with illustrations.”

“…shown that appropriate use of multiple sensory cues in multimedia can effectively represent nonverbal information, enhance learning performance and experience, and help form mental representations of objects (Carney and Levin 2002; Mayer et al. 2003; Mayer and Gallini 1990; Moreno and Mayer 2002).”

“2 and 3, which depict the external conditions for effective multimedia instruction—having meaningful text, having complimentary illustrations, having learners who need help, and having a test that taps meaningful learning (Mayer, 1989; Mayer & Gallini, 1990).”

“Nevertheless, the graphic format deserves particular attention, since it enables simultaneous processing of large amounts of information (Mayer & Gallini, 1990).”

“In the current experiments, we are concerned with aptitudetreatment interactions in which the students’ prior knowledge varies (e.g., Mayer, 1997; Mayer & Gallini, 1990).”

“We selected students who were not highly knowledgeable about meteorology because previous research has shown that instructional manipulations have the greatest impact on low-knowledge learners (Mayer, in press; Mayer & Gallini, 1990 ).”

“Because previous studies have demonstrated that some instructional effects were stronger for low-experience learners than for high-experience learners (Mayer & Gallini, 1990; Mayer & Sims, 1994), we included only low-experience students in our study.”

“Finally, Mayer and Gallini (1990) found that students with low prior knowledge benefited on conceptual recall and problem solving, but not verbatim recall, when given graphics describing both the components and action taking place.”

“The student begins the task by reading the text and forming an internal, verbal representation of the text’s meaning by first selecting and then organizing elements presented in the text (e.g., Mayer and Gallini, 1990).”

“…multimedia effects on learning, this research has found a general (although not completely unanimous) advantage for memory (e.g., Mayer, 1989; Mayer & Gallini, 1990) and an overwhelming and consistent advantage for deep comprehension (e.g., Mayer & Anderson, 1992; Mayer & Gallini, 1990) when…”

“For example, when the goal is to help students understand cause–effect relations or how systems behave, diagrams need to show not only the components of the systems but also how they interact and interrelate (Mayer and Gallini, 1990).”

“Learning science also suggests that situated learning [2], [7], [15], [27], [28], [29], where instructions are provided while people are solving a problem, is an effective teaching strategy.”

“The experience instrument was based on a similar instrument used by Mayer and Gallini (1990) .”

“More recently, research has concentrated on disentangling the relevant conditions needed to obtain illustration benefits in learning (e.g., Mayer, 1989; Mayer & Gallini, 1990; Peeck, 1993) and the underlying reasons for these beneficial effects (e.g., Kulhavy et al., 1993).”

“Several studies conducted by Mayer and colleagues support the use of text and graphics in explaining concepts (e.g., Mayer, 1989; Mayer & Anderson, 1991, 1992; Mayer & Gallini, 1990).”

“Although applying feedback cues to whole-body movements with the appropriate timing and force production needed to perform with accuracy in open sport environments is challenging for adult experts, it is an overwhelmingly complex task for novice learners in physical education.”

“Diagrams are known to facilitate comprehension of such systems (e. g., Kieras, 1992; Mayer & Gallini, 1990).”

“Previous work on learning from text has demonstrated that although illustrated text can enhance learning (Balluerka, 1995; Mayer, 1994, 1999; Mayer & Gallini, 1990), illustrations can also sometimes lead to poor learning outcomes.”

“A number of studies of attribute x treatment interactions (ATI) show, for example, that multimedia effects are strongest for low-prior knowledge and high-spatial ability students (Mayer & Gallini, 1990; Mayer, Steinhoff, Bower, & Mars, 1995; Mayer & Sims, 1994).”

“CTML has been used to compare text only presentations with graphics/text presentations in science learning [27], animation and narration for explanative material [26], multimedia explanations [22] and conceptual models [13,15].”

“The NI system was a computer-based version of that described in Mayer and Gallini (1990).”

“Third, while it has often been shown that people learn more from diagrams that are accompanied by explanatory text or verbal commentaries (e.g., Mayer and Gallini, 1990; Mayer and Anderson, 1991; Hegarty and Just, 1993) one goal of our research is a scientific account of how multimedia presentations…”

“Regarding naive learners, Mayer and Gallini (1990) found that illustrations helped college students with low prior knowledge of automobile mechanics to recall textual explanatory information and to solve creative problems.”

“…and the non-verbal system for modality-specific images) can enhance recall, compared to information processed in one system only (Clark and Paivio 1991; Mayer 1989; Mayer and Gallini 1990; Mayer and Moreno 1998; Paivio and Csapo 1973; Paivio 1971, 1991; Plass et al. 1998, 2003; Rieber 1990, 1991).”

“The student's recall was then scored in terms of those idea units, a procedure used in previous studies (Mayer & Gallini 1990; Plass et al. 1998; Kim et al. 2006).”

“McDaniel et al. (2009) showed benefits of a single initial retrievaldfreely recalling material in a “read–recite–review” proceduredon final problem-solving questions (Mayer and Gallini, 1990).”

“In his theory on learning from multimedia, Mayer (1997) assumes that verbal and pictorial explanations are processed in different cognitive subsystems which provide different support for the construction of mental models.”

“This pattern, however, mirrors that obtained by Mayer and his colleagues in their examination of the effects of provided illustrations (e.g., Mayer, 1989; Mayer & Gallini, 1990; Sagerman & Mayer, 1987).”

“Illustrations can be particularly helpful when the described concept involves several parts or steps and is intended for individuals with low prior knowledge (Eitel & Scheiter, 2015; Mayer & Gallini, 1990).”

“highlighted by Mayer and colleagues as a guiding principle of textbook illustrations [Mayer and Gallini, 1990; Mayer et al., 1995].”

“A series of studies that attempt to unravel the complexities of the potential interactions among text, graphic and individual variables have been conducted by Mayer and his collaborators (Mayer, 1984; Mayer, 1989; Mayer and Gallini, 1990; Mayer and Anderson, 1991; Mayer and Anderson, 1992; Mayer, 1993a; 1993b; Mayer a…”

“This analysis has resonance with studies on aptitude–treatment interactions (e.g. Cronbach and Snow, 1977; Mayer, 1997; Mayer and Gallini, 1990; Mayer et al., 1975; Peterson, 1977; Snow et al., 1980; Snow and Lohman, 1984) in which the structure of material interacts with learner aptitude.”

“As expected from the psychological literature on dual coding (Paivio, 1986) and learning effects of multimedia (Mayer & Gallini, 1990), the combined conditions were statistically reliably better on most performance tasks and preferred by participants.”

“…2014).1 Of note is that “multimedia” may be conceptualized more narrowly, such as simple combinations of text and graphic content within the same document, as exemplified by the work of Mayer and colleagues (e.g., Mayer, 1989; Mayer, Bove, Bryman, Mars, & Tapangco, 1996; Mayer & Gallini, 1990).”

“Instructional illustrations are supposed to enhance learning (Mayer, 1989; Mayer & Gallini, 1990) and research has documented their effectiveness (for a review, see Carney & Levin, 2002).”

“According to a process implemented by Mayer and Gallini (1990), the number of idea units in the students’ answers was counted and”

“tigations (e.g., Hegarty & Just, 1993; Kieras and Bovair, 1984; Mayer & Gallini, 1990 ).”

“For example , Mayer (1989b) and Mayer and Gallini (1990) have demonstrated that materials, conforming to these criteria, in which graphics and text work together to illustrate both the objects and causal relations in systems (hydraulic drum brakes, bicycle pumps) were effective at promoting…”

“Many researchers have affirmed the need for structure for lower level students (Bertin, 2001; Egbert, Chao, & Hanson-Smith, 1999; Healey, 1999; Jamieson & Chapelle, 1988; Ko¨tter, 2001; Mayer & Gallini, 1990; Shea, 2000).”

“They are most effective when they support content for which the learner has little prior knowledge (Mayer and Gallini, 1990).”

“The arguments brought forth by Larkin and Simon emphasize the strength of visual representations [31], which is partially supported by Mayer [35] and Roth [61].”

“…the texts and transfer tests experimentally: lightning (Mayer, 1998; Mayer, Bove, & Bryman, 1996; Mayer, Heiser, & Lonn, 2001; Mayer & Moreno, 2002; Moreno & Mayer, 1999); brakes (Mayer, 1998; Mayer & Anderson, 1992; Mayer & Gallini, 1990; Mayer & Moreno, 1998) and pumps (Mayer & Anderson, 1992).”