An article summary presentation based on a research article I read for my capstone cognitive psychology seminar class

1. Are Pictures Good for
Learning New Vocabulary in a
Foreign Language?
Only If You Think They Are Not
Shana K. Carpenter & Kellie M. Olson
Presentation by: Erica Starr

2. Literature Review & Background
O Picture superiority effect- when shown a list of
easily named pictures versus their corresponding
verbal labels, P’s often have an easier time
recalling the names of the pictures (Paivio &
Csapo, 1973; Paivio, Rogers, & Smythe, 1968).
O The first known theoretical account was based on
Paivio’s theory that pictures are remembered
better because they are represented by both
verbal and image codes.

3. Background Continued
O Related to the levels of processing theory (Craik
& Lockhart, 1972), pictures receive a greater
degree of elaborative semantic processing.
O Pictures can be categorized faster than words
(Potter & Faulconer, 1975).
O The picture superiority effect can be eliminated
through encoding tasks that encourage semantic
processing of word labels.

4. Some More Background
O One area directly relevant to the issue of the
picture superiority effect is foreign language
vocabulary learning.
O Many studies report the mnemonic advantages of
pictures.
O Many foreign language textbooks use pictures.
O Computer-assisted language learning programs
with pictures convey concepts in a visually
distinctive way.

5. Language Studies of the Past
O English speakers  German words
O Cantonese speakers  English words
O Cantonese speakers  French words
O Dutch speakers  Italian words
O *Cued recall tests have not yielded any
advantage in recall when comparing the
use of pictures versus verbal translations

6. 2 Important Distinctions
O Picture superiority O Pictures in acquisition
effect of foreign language
vocabulary
O 1. Foreign word paired
O 1. Presentations of
single items with either picture or
native language
translation
O 2. Measure single item O 2. Measure cued recall
recall or recognition of a foreign word from
a picture or translation

7. What Does This Mean?
O There are differences between the two tasks in
how information is both encoded and retrieved.
O Performance on free recall and recognition tests
are more likely to demonstrate the picture
superiority effect than are cued recall tests.

8. What may be contributing to the lack of picture
superiority effects in foreign language vocabulary
learning?
O *Replicate the designs of previous studies that
have failed to detect advantages in using
pictures to recall foreign words.
O *Extend these designs to see whether findings
can be attributed to encoding factors, retrieval
factors, or both.

9. Experiment 1
O P’s learned new words in Swahili by
seeing the word paired with either a
picture or its English translation.

10. Method
O 116 P’s, 29 P’s randomly assigned to one of the
four between-subjects conditions, approx. 25 min.
O 43 single syllable English nouns between 3 and 7
letters (Kamusi Project Website)

11. O Condition 1 O Condition 3
O Saw Swahili word w/ O Saw Swahili word w/
picture  Recall English translation 
Swahili word from Recall Swahili word
picture from English translation
O Condition 2 O Condition 4
O Saw Swahili word w/
O Saw Swahili word w/
picture  Free recall English translation 
name of picture in Free recall the English
English word

12. O 1. P’s knew they were going be tested from the
beginning. Each item pair was in the center of a
computer screen for 6s with a 1s interstimulus
interval.
O 2. P’s in each condition saw all items again but in a
different random order.
TEST
O In Conditions 1 and 3, P’s had unlimited time to type
in their answers in Swahili on the screen upon being
presented with the pictures one by one in random
order.
O In Conditions 2 and 4, P’s had 5 min. to respond in
English by typing the names of as many pictures or
words that they could recall, pressing ENTER in
between each answer.

13. Results
O Expected that Swahili words recalled from pictures
would not be better than from English translations
O Accuracy = An exact match to the correct Swahili
word
O The free recall test revealed an advantage of
pictures over English translations, whereas the
cued recall test did not.

15. Interpretations
O Absence of a picture superiority effect with this
task cannot be explained by saying the pictures
were not sufficiently encoded, as free recall did
produce the usual effect.
O Experiment 2 explores why cued recall leads to
an absent picture superiority effect.

16. Experiment 2
O Same general instructions as Exp. 1
O 24 P’s from first pool were used
O Same word pairs minus 1 pair (picked at
random)
O Used color photographs instead of black
and white line drawings
O 21 items were picture-Swahili word pairs,
the other half were English-Swahili pairs

17. The items were presented again  P’s made a
judgment of learning for each item
Picture-Swahili English-Swahili
Pairs Pairs
O “How confident are O “How confident are
you that in about you that in about
five minutes from five minutes from
now you will be able now you will be able
to recall the Swahili to recall the Swahili
word when given word when given
the picture?” the English word?”

18. Item presented
__60___ (Press ENTER)
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
definitely will not recall ---------------------------------- definitely will recall

19. O P’s then given a cued recall test on computers
using the same cue present at encoding.
O After entering a response, it disappeared and the
correct answer appeared.
O P’s made another judgment of learning (JOL) about
how well they would do another 5 min. later
O Then the next item was tested for cued recall,
followed by feedback and a JOL. This entire recall
and JOL procedure was then repeated one more
time.

20. O A final recall test without feedback or JOL’s was
given.
O Experiment 2 lasted about 40 min.

21. Results
At Test 1, overconfidence was higher for Swahili words
learned from pictures than from English translations.
By Test 3, P’s were underconfident for
both types of items.

22. At Test 1, no significant advantage emerged for picture
pairs over word pairs. It was significant for Tests 2 & 3.

23. Interpretations
O When P’s are overconfident in their ability to recall
a Swahili word from a picture, they do not recall
Swahili words significantly better from pictures
than from English translations.
O Removal of this overconfidence bias through
retrieval practice resulted in a significant
advantage in recall of Swahili words from pictures
compared with English translations.

24. Experiment 3
O 50 P’s from same pool, 25 to each of two
conditions
O Same 42 items as Exp. 2, half as picture
pairs, half as word pairs
O P’s made a JOL for each item and
recalled items from the same encoding
cues used during encoding
*Exp. 3 attempted to reduce overconfidence
through an instructional manipulation rather
than through retrieval practice.

25. Condition 1 Condition 2
Warning Group No Warning Group
O Provided w/ O Received no warning
instructions not to be
overconfident
O Overconfidence bias O Should not observe
is absent picture superiority effect
O Prediction: Expect to O Prediction: Picture-
observe a picture Swahili pairs would elicit
superiority effect greater overconfidence

26. Instructions for the Warning Group

27. Results
The No Warning Group exhibited greater
overconfidence for picture-Swahili pairs.
The Warning Group did not.

28. The Warning group demonstrated superior recall of
Swahili words from pictures compared with English
translations, whereas the No Warning Group did not.

29. Interpretations
O Pictures were more effective cues overall than
English translations.
O Conditions with an overconfidence bias did not
show a picture superiority effect.
O When this bias was prevented through
instructions, a significant picture superiority effect
emerged.

30. Why do people feel overconfident in their ability to
recall a word from a picture?
O Evidence for the ease-of-processing heuristic is
based on the findings that items which receive
high ease of processing ratings will be rated easy
to process by another group of people.
Based on the JOL’s from Exps. 2 & 3, evidence for
this heuristic will be obtained if a different group of
P’s rates Picture-Swahili pairs as easier to process
than English-Swahili pairs.

31. Experiment 4
O 64 P’s from same pool, same 42 word pairs
O Half with pictures, half with translations
O Pictures were the line drawings from Exp. 1
O Same general presentation as in previous
exps.

32. Following the Items
Presentation
O Exp. 4A  Each item rated for ease of studying*
O Exp. 4B Each item rated for ease of understanding*
O Exp. 4C  Each item rated for ease of linking*
(*Comparing Swahili word to picture/English translation)
SCALE
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Very hard to understand/study/link ------ Very easy to understand/study/link

33. Results
P’s rated Picture-Swahili pairs as being significantly
easier to study, understand, and link.
Thus, P’s perceived Swahili words as easier to
process when paired with pictures rather than English
translations. (Supported by high JOL’s in Exps. 2 & 3)

34. General Discussion
O These experiments addressed the lack of a picture
superiority effect in foreign language vocabulary
learning.
O Swahili words that were paired with pictures were
not better recalled on an initial cued recall test than
those paired with English translations.
O Although pictures were well encoded (shown by
superior free recall), sufficient associations between
pictures and Swahili words were not made.

35. Discussion Continued
O Failure to associate the pictures with Swahili words
appears to stem from overconfidence.
O Eliminating this overconfidence bias through
retrieval practice leads to advantages in recall for
Picture-Swahili pairs.
O Pictures are perceived as easier to process than
English translations, but this can sometimes lead to
inaccurate memory predictions.

36. Pictures can indeed be more
effective cues than English
translations, as long as
participants are not significantly
more overconfident in the
mnemonic power of pictures.

37. Discussion Questions
O Did using the same pool of participants for all four
experiments have any biasing effect on the results?
O Is Swahili unique in its vocabulary? What about
another language that people are more exposed
to?
O Was 42 pairs of words excessive in that it was too
much information to be remembered well?

38. Future Experiments
O Perform the experiment with children, they may
have different ways of remembering items than
adults do or pay more attention to pictures since
their reading level is not as advanced.
O If P’s are given more time to learn the material and
tested by an incidental learning task, maybe they
will be more likely to remember certain pairings.
What if P’s are told they must try to teach the
material to someone else? Will that change how
well they remember it?
O Test overconfidence in a social situation. Do JOL’s
change when P’s are asked to show how confident
they are by raising their hand in a classroom setting
as opposed to working alone?