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Pictures may be used as prompts when the reader cannot read a word in the text, but pictures may miscue and may divert attention from printed words. In Experiment I, 30 randomly assigned pre-lst graders learned to read 4 words with no picture, a simple picture, or a complex picture present. During acquisition trials, when pictures were present, the simple and complex picture groups made more correct responses (p < .01). During test trials, with no pictures present, the no-picture group excelled (p < .01). In Experiment II, 26 matched pairs of 1st graders were given classroom reading instruction under a no-picture or picture condition. The results disclosed that poor readers with no picture present learned more words (p < ,01). Among better readers the difference was not significant. The results are discussed in terms of attentional processes.

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.If fish were to become scientists, the last thing they might discover would be water. Similarly, researchers have too often failed to investigate important aspects of their environment because being immersed in it, they fail to notice certain components of it; or, having noticed a component, they simply assume that it must be that way. One such example from reading is the ubiquitous use of illustrations in books for beginning reading instruction. Today nearly all children are taught to read from books containing pictures. In this country this practice goes back at least to 1729 when the New England Primer incorporated pictures with the text. In Europe during the 1650's, Comenius used pictures in his Orbis Pictus to teach reading. Only occasionally does one find a writer (Dechant, 1964) questioning the use of pictures or a published reading series, such as the Bloomfield and Barnhard (1963) readers, attempting to teach reading without pictures. Teachers usually accept the fact that beginning reading texts have pictures without wondering what effect pictures have on learning to read.In its yearly summary of investigations related to reading, the Reading Research Quarterly reports nearly 400 studies. Surprisingly, only a fraction of the studies were concerned with pictures or illustrations. This review is a summary of those studies in which researchers have investigated the effects of pictures on (a) learning to read, (b) comprehension, and (c) attitudes. In addition, specific suggestions for needed research are included. To delineate the area for review, preference was given to those studies in which pictures were used as adjuncts. Pictures are considered adjuncts if the text can be comprehended or the objects of the lesson fulfilled when the pictures are removed. The effect of pictures on learning to read wordsTeachers of beginning reading use the pictures in primers to build background for the story, to introduce the meaning of new words to be learned, and as prompts when children can not recognize printed words. In the last instance (when a student is unable to identify a word), the 397

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