The picture superiority effect: why a picture is remembered better than a word

What it is

When people are asked to recall a list of things, the ones shown as pictures tend to be remembered better than the ones shown as words. This is called the picture superiority effect.

In training, much of what a team needs to recognise is visual: a product, a piece of equipment, a document, a risky situation.

What the research says

Where the idea comes from. In a classic study, Paivio and Csapo (1973) showed that free recall was generally higher for items presented as pictures than as words. The title, imagery or dual coding?, sums up the question they asked: whether the advantage came from mental imagery or from a dual coding, verbal and visual, of the same item. They concluded in favour of dual coding. Recent research points to a different answer: distinctiveness.

Why it works

• More distinctive. A picture varies more than a written word, which makes it easier to tell apart in memory (Higdon and colleagues, 2025).
• Next to the text. The question and the picture appear side by side on the same screen, as the spatial contiguity principle recommends (Noetel and colleagues, 2022).
• Closer to reality. Recognising the right equipment in a photo is closer to what happens at the workplace than reading a description.
• Alternatives that make people think. Four similar pictures force players to spot what matters, which links to the plausible alternatives of good multiple choice (Little and colleagues, 2012).

How the game applies it

Which equipment protects against objects falling from the shelves?

21

Helmet

Gloves

Goggles

Boots

WhyHelmets are mandatory throughout the warehouse, next to the high racks.

• Image in the question: show a real situation and ask what should be done.
• Images in the answers: pick the right product, piece of equipment or document.
• Trainers upload the images in the admin panel, alongside the question text. They work best when they show what matters for the answer, not decoration.