Metaphorical Visualizations: Their
Influence on the Emotional Intensity of
Text Themes
Neil H. Schwartz, Robert Danielson & Maryam Falahi
California State University, USA
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Purpose
To show that:
1. Decorative graphics serve more than the function of adornment
per se when accompanying text; they influence the way learners
cognitively interact with a text based upon the text themes the
graphics make salient.
2. Decorative graphics influence learners’ ability to extract the
underlying themes of narrative and expository text, and influence
what learners remember.
3. Text themes are not equally salient in the emotional arousal they
evoke in learners, and graphics influence thematic text
comprehension differently relative to that arousal.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Preliminary Concepts: Decorative
Graphics
Graphical Category Definition
Interpretational
clarify difficult-to-understand material.
Organizational
provide a structural framework for the text
content.
Transformational
mnemonic in nature.
Representational
literally depict or overlap (part or all of) the text
content.
Decorative
simply decorate the page, and bear little
or no relationship to the text content.
Levin, Anglin, and Carney (1987)
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Preliminary Concepts: Theme
 The main overarching idea or concept behind a piece of work.
 It may be either stated outright or implied by an author.
 It is the job of the reader to infer this overarching idea through thoughtful
consideration and careful interpretation.
 This consideration often takes the form of theorizing beyond the literal translation
of the work, and deriving what the author or artist meant to convey by the
arrangement of the work's elements.
 In narrative and expository texts, the elements are typically combinations of words,
phrases, and/or sentences, the aggregate of which give rise to the higher order idea.
 In visually-based pieces of work, the elements are typically the nature of the subject
material shown relative to the context in which the subject matter is referenced.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Preliminary Concepts: Metaphor
Source Domain
Target Domain
The concept that is
known by the learner
CONCRETE
The concept that the learner
tries to understand
ABSTRACT
Happiness is a Journey
Ground
Correspondence Mapping
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Preliminary Concepts: Visual Metaphor
A visual metaphor is a visual referent in which two visual
concepts occupy the same semantic space, each of which is
neither the other, but share a common ground in which the
aggregate elements of one concept can be interpreted in
terms of the aggregate elements of the other. The referent
provides a viewer the capability of mapping a source domain
onto a target domain by visual means through the
homospatiality of physically noncomposable
elements
(Carroll, 1994).
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
The Function
Cognitive
Representation
Comprehension
Metaphor
Theme
Visual Metaphor
Underlying Theme
Aggregate
Metaphoric Elements
Thematic Elements
Graphic
Text
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Background to the Investigations
 When graphics are paired with text, text comprehension is reliably improved.
The finding is robust and well documented. (Schnotz & Bannert, 2003; Mayer, Hagerty & Mayer, 2005;
Schwartz & Collins, 2008).
 However, not all visualization graphics function in the same way, particularly
when the graphics are intended to decorate a page.
 In a meta-analytic review, Levin, Anglin, and Carney (1987) found weak to non-existent
effect sizes for graphics used for decoration.
 Elia, Gagatsis, and Demetriou (2007) found that graphics used principally for adornment
fail to increase learners’ understanding of related tasks or deepen their comprehension of
instructional material.
 In a series of studies, we have demonstrated that decorative graphics serve
more than the function of adornment, per se; instead, they function to
convey information about the theme of accompanying text, and dictate what
is learned. (Danielson, Schwartz, Krause & Lippman, 2010; Mortensen & Schwartz, 2009; Schwartz, Battinich, Lieb &
Mortensen, 2008; Schwartz, Lieb, Battinich & Kuinke, 2007; Schwartz & Collins, 2008).
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Assumptions
 Most textbooks use decorative graphics as visually interesting stimuli to
make a page more interesting– and to sell books.
 If they did not, they would not insert them into their textbooks, since it is more
expensive with them, than without them.
 We contend that all decorative graphics bear some thematic relationship
to the text they accompany.
 Indeed, when a graphic bears no thematic relation to a text, it is assumed that users
would find the graphic confusing.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Decorative Graphics Elucidate Text Theme
 When a decorative graphic is a visual metaphor of text theme, the graphic
has the potential to elucidate the text’s thematic elements. It does so
because of its partial similarity to the text as a target (Wonzy, 1989).
 The graphic provides a viewer the capability of mapping a source domain
onto a target domain by visual means through the homospatiality of
physically noncomposable elements (Carroll, 1994).
 According to Schriver (1997), graphics metaphorically depicting theme
help prepare learners for interpreting textual information by allowing the
learners to predict the underlying text concepts. This is especially true in
longer texts, which take significantly longer to process than a graphic.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
In a series of Experiments:
We wanted to know whether decorative graphics that are
related to the content of a passage by theme influence what is learned
from the passage. Specifically, we expected that the theme of a
decorative graphic would:
1. Make some passage content more important than others.
2. Make important passage content more memorable.
3. Activate learners’ personal knowledge about the passage
content.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Experiment 1: The Influence of Decorative
Graphics on Perspective
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Experimental Passage
Graphic Theme
Uplifting Growing
Literal
Graphic
Context
Figurative
Melancholy Dying
We all have experiences in
relationships-- from the
attachments we build with our
parents to the platonic and
romantic connections that emerge
later in life. We develop these
relationships which continue to grow from the time we are
young until we are old. These relationships can range
anywhere from friendly and supportive to love and
romantic. It is these last types of relationships, romantic
ones, in which we are interested below. Recent studies
about romantic relationships have revealed a variety of
interesting findings in regards to the way individuals
perceive these romantic relationships.
During the period in which two people enter a new
relationship, there is typically an initial, exhilarating period
when the couple engages in intense exploration and
conversation. However, after the initial feeling of elation
subsides, one or both of the individuals may find the
relationship too constraining, or find the differences in
personalities too inconsistent. Still couples often do seem
to find the dynamics of the relationship well-suited to the
extent that they pursue…
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Experiment 1: Findings

When a literal graphic showing an uplifting theme
accompanied text, students remembered more positive
information from the passage.

When a figurative graphic showing a melancholy theme
accompanied text, students brought in less information
from the text into their essays.

When a figurative graphic showing an uplifting theme
accompanied text, students brought in more personal
information into their essays.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
After viewing the
melancholy graphic.

Males’ feelings at the time of the
dissolution of their last relationship
and their aesthetic judgment of the
picture predicted 87% of the variance
of the positive statements they
included in their essay.

Females’ current satisfaction in their
last relationship and their aesthetic
judgment predicted 30% of the
variance of the non-personal positive
statements they included their essay.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
After viewing the
uplifting graphic.
Only females were influenced
by the uplifting graphic:
The more satisfied females were in their
current relationship and the more beautiful
they perceived the graphic, the less negative
personal statements they included in their
essay.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Experiment 1: Conclusions

Decorative graphics influence the valence of
information people remember from a text.

They influence what people think about when
they read a text.

They influence what personal memories people
mix with what they read.

People have a hard time telling the difference
between what they read and what they bring
from memory when they read.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Experiment 1: Conclusions
 Experiment 1 revealed that decorative graphics have the capacity to
influence the emotional valence of text-based and personal material
students remember.
 However, the graphics were not evaluated against non-graphic or nonthematic graphics.
 Experiment 2 was designed to make this comparison. In addition, an
attempt was made to use metaphorical graphics to persuade individuals’
opinions on a highly sensitive and personal issue in the united states:
whether schools should teach abstinence or promote safe sex.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Experiment 2: The Influence of Decorative
Graphics on Persuasion
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Romantic
Academic
Erotic
Individualist Perspective
Collectivist Perspective
None
Recent studies have shown that among
developed nations, the US ranks the highest in
adolescent pregnancies, births, and abortions. To
deal with this problem among our youth, many
school systems have adopted one of two
different forms of sex education: abstinence or
safe-sex programs.
A key component of abstinence-only programs
are that a person with moral standards must wait
until marriage to engage in sexual activity.
Proponents of abstinence programs argue that
waiting until marriage shows a higher moral
standard and a greater respect for one's partner.
Promoters for safe-sex programs argue that it is
ridiculous and dangerous to expect that simply
telling a teenager not to have sex will be
effective. They argue that teenagers, and people
in general, are naturally prone to be curious and
interested in sex, and suppressing those natural
instincts could cause more harm than help.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Experiment 2: Findings

The 3 decorative graphics did not differentially persuade students to
change their position on methods of sex education in the US.
They did influence students to use
more evidence from the passage to
endorse safe sex– if the students were
collectivist thinkers and viewed the
romantic graphic.


They also influenced students to
provide more evidence of physical
relationships to support their position
on safe sex-- if the students were
individualist thinkers and viewed the
erotic graphic.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Experiment 2: Conclusions

Decorative graphics do not influence
students position on an issue for
which they have strong beliefs.

Decorative graphics do influence the
type of information students use as
evidence to support their position on
an issue, but the influence depends
on whether the students think more
individualistically or collectively.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Experiment 2: Conclusions
 Experiment 2 revealed that decorative graphics differentially influence the
type of information students remember from text and summon from
prior knowledge to support a personal position on an issue.
 However, neither experiment 1 nor 2 contrasted a decorative graphic
having no intended metaphorical relationship, with a decorative graphic
which is metaphorical in nature. Study 3 was designed address this
question.
 Would a graphic that is a visual metaphor for the themes underlying a text
differentially highlight text content?
 In addition, qualitative interviews conducted after experiment 2 indicated
that many participants remembered the graphic days later. Thus, a oneweek delay condition was added to experiment 3 in order to determine
what effect, if any, a metaphorical graphic, would have on the
preservation of knowledge over time.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Experiment 3: The Influence of Decorative
Graphics on Narrative Text Theme
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Hills Like White Elephants
By Ernest Hemingway
NONE
Literal
Literal
60% dialog between
a man and woman
Metaphoric
Thematic
4 Themes: (Choice,
Male/female inequity)
Graphic
Text
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
The hills across the valley of the
Ebro were long and white. On this
side there was no shade and no trees
and the station was between two lines
of rails in the sun. Close against the
side of the station there was the
warm shadow of the building and a
curtain, made of strings of bamboo
beads, hung across the open door into
the bar, to keep out flies. The
American and the girl with him sat at
a table in the shade, outside the
building. It was very hot and the
express from Barcelona would come
in forty minutes. It stopped at this
junction for two minutes and went to
Madrid.
'What should we drink?' the girl
asked. She had taken off her hat and
put it on the table.
'It's pretty hot,' the man said.
'Let's drink beer.‘
'Dos cervezas,' the man said into
the curtain.
'Big ones?' a woman asked from
the doorway.
'Yes. Two big ones.'
Experiment 3: Findings
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Literal Comprehension at Immediate Testing and
One Week Delay
10
8.77
9
8
7.71
7
6.25
Immediate
6
5
4
1 Week Later
5.81
4.29
4.47
3
2
1
0
None
Literal
Metaphoric
Type of Decorative Graphic
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Theme Comprehension at Immediate
Testing and One Week Delay
2
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Immediate
One Week delay
None
Literal
Metaphoric
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Experiment 3: Findings
 The metaphorical graphic showed no value in helping learners remember
the literal level of the narrative a week later. In fact, the drop was 28%
greater than the control.
 The literal graphic preserved 93% of learners’ memory of the literal
level of the story-- for a full week.
 However, the metaphorical graphic influenced learners’ capacity to
derive the underlying theme from the narrative-- but only if the graphic
was a visual metaphor of the text’s theme.
 A full week after reading the text, the metaphorical graphic preserved
93% of the minor theme, and nearly doubled (187%) learners’ capacity
to derive the major theme.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Experiment 3: Conclusions
 Decorative graphics are not benign in their influence of text
comprehension-- either at the literal level or the thematic level of a story
when they are visual metaphors of text theme.
 These graphics are not apparently valuable at immediate testing for literal
levels of a story-- over no graphic at all.
 However, when decorative graphics are metaphorical depictions of the
theme of a text, the graphics drive what people remember about what
they have read.
 People apparently use the graphics to reconstruct the underlying message
of a text, making graphics influential in what they remember.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Experiment 4: The Influence of Decorative
Graphics on Expository Text
Theme
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Experiment 4: An Introduction
 In Experiment 4, we were interested in determining if a decorative graphic would
influence students’ comprehension of the literal level of a story when the graphic
has a high emotional arousal.
 Since expository text typically has a weak, rather than strong theme, we wrote an
expository text on the crisis in Darfur.
 The subject matter of Darfur was chosen because it can be viewed either from the
perspective of civil war or genocide.
 The passage was written to highlight the current political conflict in the region of Darfur,
½ of the passage was simply neutral background facts, while ¼ highlighted the theme of
genocide, the remaining ¼ highlighted the theme of civil war.
 The graphics were created to be as similar in composition as possible, while still evoking
their intended metaphors while not evoking other metaphors.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
NONE
Darfur: A Region in Sudan
The conflict in Darfur started in early 2003 and has continued to persist despite efforts to bring peace. Darfur is a region in the
west of Sudan located in northeastern Africa. There are roughly 200 tribes in Sudan with a variety of populations. Since Sudan
gained its independence in 1956 there have been a number of riots because not all of the tribes coexist peacefully. There is a
common misunderstanding that being Arabic is a nationality, but it is actually considered an ethnicity. There are a number of
cultural differences between the Sudanese government and some Darfurians. There are two main groups within Darfur; one of
which claims an “Arab” descent that tends to be mostly semi-nomadic livestock herders, and the other group claims a black
“African” descent composed of those who primarily practice sedentary agriculture. The conflict is much more based on ethnicity
rather than about nationality or religion.
Although the conflict supposedly ended in February 2009 with a peace agreement between both fighting factions (rebels and the
Sudanese government), inhabitants are still fearful for their safety. In the past, the Sudanese government has made racist remarks
towards Darfurians with an African cultural background. Sudanese officials have been accused of tampering with evidence, such
as attempting to cover up mass graves. Journalists within Darfur have also claimed that the government has been trying to hide
their reports on activity in the region. Two of the major Darfurian rebel groups are the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Experiment 4: Findings
Number of Text Idea Units Reported in Essays
23
22
21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
Number of Text
Idea Units
Reported in
Essays
Civil War
Graphic
Genocide
Graphic
Location Graphic
No Graphic
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Experiment 4: Conclusion
 Students brought in significantly more idea units from the text into
their essays when viewing the graphic that was a visual metaphor of
genocide.
 Students did not bring in significantly more of one type of text idea
unit over the other– civil war or genocide– into their essay relative to
the graphic they saw.
 The emotionally arousing issue of genocide represented in the genocide
graphic influenced what students remembered from the text about the
issue of Darfur.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Four Experiments: What We Have Learned
 Decorative graphics have the capacity to influence the emotional valence of text-based
and personal material students remember.
 The graphics influence what personal memories people mix with what they read.
 They do not appear to influence students’ position on an issue for which they have
strong beliefs. But, they do influence the type of information students use as evidence
to support their position on an issue.
 Decorative graphics are not benign in their influence of text comprehension-- either at
the literal level or the thematic level of a story when they are visual metaphors of a
text’s theme.
 Indeed, when decorative graphics are metaphorical depictions of text theme, they
apparently drive what people remember about what they have read. They appear to be
used by students to reconstruct the underlying message of a text– well after initial
learning.
 Even in the presence of expository text, when a decorative graphic is a visual metaphor
for an emotionally salient theme, the graphic appears to enhance what students
remember from the text.
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA
Thank you for your time and attention.
nschwartz@csuchico.edu
http://www.csuchico.edu/~nschwartz
LCIG Research Lab
Department of Psychology, California State University, Chico USA