Pictures, words, and sounds: From which format are we best able to reason?

The effect of presentation format on reasoning was studied with a sentence verification task. Background information was presented in single-format an d combined conditions that included pictured, printed, or spoken versions o f the stimulus items. In Experiment 1, a test sentence appeared together wi th the background at varied stimulus onset asynchronies, to study how forma t influences the acquisition of the stimulus information. In Experiments 2 and 3, however, the test sentence followed the presentation of the backgrou nd, to test the effect of format on memory. Reaction time responses to the test sentences showed a consistent picture advantage. However, when partici pants responded to materials stored in memory, both pictured and spoken for mats provided quicker responses in comparison to printed words, and the for mat difference was smaller than when materials were readily available on th e screen. Multimedia presentations, when compared with single-format condit ions, did not provide additional benefits.