The picture superiority effect and biological education

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Abstract
Under certain conditions, certain types of picture enable certain people to learn certain things more effectively, a phenomenon which has generally come to be known as the ‘picture superiority effect’ (PSE). This paper attempts to set those learning behaviours where PSE seems to be most effective in biological education in the context of the research methods used to study the effect. It re-presents a theoretical model of how pictures might produce their superiority effect, and offers a modification of the model in order to provide a principle upon which to guide future applied experimental research. It also suggests a new model of research which should allow a more direct examination of the strategies which learners use when matching up picture and text in their efforts to come to an ‘understanding’ of biology.