Concrete images, diverse ideas: The role of pictures in learning from multimedia texts of varying abstractness

Learning and Instruction. 2026. Vol. 106. Article 102432.

Blinova E., Olga Shcherbakova

Abstract

Background

Knowledge abstractness is one of the factors affecting learning outcomes, particularly in learning from multimedia texts. However, most previous studies on multimedia learning have focused on manipulating pictorial abstractness, while the role of text topic abstractness remains largely unexplored.

Aims

1. Examine how topic abstractness influences multimedia learning outcomes when pictorial abstractness remains constant. 2. Investigate how this effect manifests across testing tasks targeting different outcomes of multimedia learning.

Sample

Sixty four university students (18-32 years, M = 21.4; 81% female, 19% male; all native Russian speakers).

Methods

We conducted a within-subject experiment, which included learning and testing stages. During the learning stage, participants read one abstract and one concrete multimedia text. The testing stage consisted of a series of tasks, including Recognition, Verification, Transfer, Concept Definition, and Summary.

Results

Participants performed better on the Picture Recognition, Verification, Transfer, and Concept Definition tasks after learning from the concrete text compared to the abstract one. However, no significant differences were observed between the two texts in performance on the Text Recognition and Summary tasks.

Conclusions

In line with the concreteness effect, participants generally performed more efficiently on post-reading tests after learning from the concrete text compared to the abstract one. This effect may be attributed to insufficient processing of pictures embedded in the abstract text. However, the equal performance on Summary for both abstract and concrete texts further clarifies the findings and suggests that the effect of topic abstractness on multimedia learning outcomes is non-linear.

Keywords: reading, multimedia learning, concreteness effect, abstract and concrete knowledge, topic abstractness, multimedia testing

Publication based on the results of: Psychological and neurobiological mechanisms of intelligence and cognitive wellbeing (2026)