Picture Superiority Effect

The Picture Superiority Effect is the idea that the brain has a higher retention rate for images rather than text especially over longer periods of time. The effectiveness of the image though is determined by its ability to reinforce the message in the text. They must correlate for the brain to retain the information.

“Based on research into the Picture Superiority Effect, when we read text alone, we are likely to remember only 10 percent of the information 3 days later. If that information is presented to us as text combined with a relevant image, we are likely to remember 65 percent of the information 3 days later.” - John Medina, Brain Rules, 2008

Types of image that use the Picture Superiority Effect include charts, graphs, digrams and data visualisations. These images dont work alone but increase the effectiveness of the information found in text and helps the brain to retain it longer.

One theory suggests that the reason the brain retains image better than text is because the brain has 2 compartments for remembering. One for image and one for text. But in the text part image is also encoded as well which suggest the picture superiority effect. Because the brain uses 2 memory stores for image and text is often considered to be why we have high level of retention.

"Because pictures are often encoded in both memory stores whereas words are not; pictures invoke naming upon study more often than words invoke imagery." [5]