Learning from Text with Instructional Pictures: Tracing Cognitive Processing through Eye Movements

This study first investigated whether an illustrated text would be more effective than a non-illustrated text in promoting a better learning performance. Secondly, it examined whether reading a text with a schematic picture or a text with a detailed picture would induce different cognitive processing, as revealed by eye movements, and learning outcomes. As concerns the cognitive processing during reading, two fine-grained indices of eye movements were computed and used in the analyses: look-from fixation time to trace the integration of verbal and pictorial information, and look-back fixation time to examine the extent to which a particular area of interest was reinspected. Individual differences, such as prior-knowledge, reading comprehension, verbal and visuo-spatial working memory, and spatial ability, were also considered. Sixty-five eighth graders were involved in a pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest design. They were randomly assigned to a different reading condition. Findings revealed that, overall, an illustrated text was more effective in enhancing readers’ learning performance compared to a non-illustrated text. Furthermore, readers of the text with the detailed picture outperformed readers of the text with the schematic picture at the immediate but not delayed posttest. Eye-movement analyses revealed that readers of the text with a schematic picture went further a simple rereading of some parts of the materials, attempting more to integrate verbal and pictorial information. The differential roles played by a schematic vs. a detailed picture in the cognitive processing of an illustrated scientific text are discussed.