PICTURE-WORD DIFFERENCES IN A SENTENCE VERIFICATION TASK

Effects of picture-word format were investigated with four problem-sol ving items. In Experiment 1, picture-word input was presented for 8 se c followed by a test sentence that included verbatim and inference sta tements. Subjects made a true/false reaction time to the test sentence . In Experiment 2, the input remained on the screen while the test sen tence was presented with varied stimulus onset asynchronies from 0 to 1,000 msec. Results showed that responses to pictures were faster than responses to words, and the format effect was larger with inference t han with verbatim sentences. The picture advantage seemed to be due to the nature of the input and how information is extracted from it. The findings are discussed within the context of text-processing theories (Glenberg & Langston, 1992; Larkin & Simon, 1987).