Why Use Visuals
Many ideas are much easier to understand with a picture than with words alone. The results of many studies show that, in most situations, people learn better with text illustrated by still pictures than they do with text alone (Anglin, Towers, & Levie, 1996). We know very little, however, about the particular effectiveness of dynamic visuals (motion pictures, animation).
Cognitive scientists, however, have demonstrated convincingly that we remember pictures better than words (Anglin, Towers, & Levie). Brain hemisphere research shows that verbal and visual learning are different, but when combined they strengthen one another (Sousa, 1995).
Words and pictures are stored separately, but are linked with one another. If your brain can't immediately retrieve the words, it might be able to retrieve the image that illustrated the words, and thereby eventually retrieve the words as well.
Visuals can also be used by students as learning tools, for example, learning to create their own visual representations of a problem, but that is a topic for another module.
