Does an Illustration Help to Comprehend Scientific Texts?

摘要

There has been considerable debate about which media (text or picture) dominates the comprehension processes of illustrated texts. Hegarty and Just (1993) conducted an eye tracking study in which participants read descriptions of simple pulley systems. They suggested that it is the text that directs the comprehension and that the picture (diagram) works as an external memory aid. However, the pulley systems used by Hegarty et al. (1993) are simple functional diagrams, which could influence participants' strategies in constructing a mental representation of the information presented. It remains unknown how a naturalistic picture that depicts a complex system and exposes functional components to readers affects comprehension and subsequent construction of mental representation.