Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Investigating Structural Knowledge with Textual and Pictorial Stimuli

The differences between the processing of textual and pictorial information have been a topic of research for some time now. Previous research concerning the modality of information has often concentrated on the speed of processing rather than the organizational differences that may exist. This experiment utilized card sorting to evaluate the changes in knowledge organization that occur when information is presented in text and picture formats. In addition to this, the structure of the elicitation task was manipulated to evaluate its effects on sharedness. It was found that textual stimuli produced a greater sharedness among participants in a free sorting task. However, for a structured sorting task, results reversed, and pictorial stimuli created a greater level of sharedness. Overall, structured sorting tasks produced a greater level of sharedness than the free sorting condition, regardless of modality.