The Image of Images as an Aid to Improve Learning An Eye-tracking Experiment Studying the Effect of Contrasts in Computer-based Learning Material Mona Holmqvist Olander 1 , Eva Wennås Brante 2 and Marcus Nyström 3 1 Department of Pedagogical, Curricular and Professional Studies, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden 2 School of education and environment, Kristianstad University, Kristianstad, Sweden 3 The Faculties of Humanities and Theology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden Keywords: Text-picture Integration, Eye-tracking, Dyslexia, Variation Theory, Contrasts in Text and Pictures. Abstract: This study addresses differences in the design of computer-based learning materials—text with or without pictures—and the aim is to show in what way these differences affect learning outcomes. In total, 46 young adults participated: 19 with dyslexia and 27 controls. Approximately half of each group received the condition text only, and half received the text and an integrated picture. The learning material was presented on computer screens, and the participants’ viewing patterns were registered by eye-tracking. The respondents answered text-based and picture-based questions, as well as oral questions, during the experiment. The assumptions about learning are based on variation theory and on the importance of contrasts in discerning important aspects of the learning material. The results show that whether material of the same content (surrealism) is presented in text only (without explicit contrasts embedded in the text) or in text and picture form (which offers a contrast) affects learning outcomes, particularly for the participants with dyslexia, who showed a fourfold increase from pre-test to post-test (from .10 to .40). 1 INTRODUCTION There is an assumption that pictures in learning material support learning, and pictures are frequently used in computer-based learning material. But what happens when learners meet both text and pictures at the same time, as in information graphics? Holsanova et al. (2009) have shown that how pictures are integrated with a text is vital for an average reader. When text and pictures are closely integrated, it seems that more of the text is read. Holsanova et al. (2009) measured the number of integrative saccades—that is, “transitions between semantically related pieces of verbal and pictorial information” (Holsanova et al., 2009, p.8)—and thereby found that the quantity of integrative saccades was reduced when the text was separated from the pictures. Furthermore, when pictures and text are serially arranged (as in a classic comic strip) instead of radially arranged (with a large picture in the middle and small pictures and text like satellites arranged around it), the reader tends to read more and for a longer time, and integrative saccades were almost twice as common. One possible explanation for the longer reading time spent on the serially arranged pictures and text was, according to Holsanova et al. (2009), that the pictures and the text were arranged in the direction in which people in Western society read, from left to right. Another is that the text was arranged in a helpful way: it started with general knowledge and built on it with more and more facts. It seems obvious that the way the pictures are exposed, as well as what kind of pictures they are and what they contain, is of importance in terms of where viewers look and for how long. But in what way this contributes to a deeper understanding of the written text has not yet been clarified. The results presented in this paper originate from a study investigating the way computer-based learning materials with and without pictures affect learning. This was tested in two different groups of subjects, namely, young adults with and without dyslexia. Based on the findings in the main study, further analysis was conducted to describe in what way contrasts in the learning material seem to influence the learning outcome more than the 309 Holmqvist Olander M., Wennås Brante E. and Nyström M.. The Image of Images as an Aid to Improve Learning - An Eye-tracking Experiment Studying the Effect of Contrasts in Computer-based Learning Material. DOI: 10.5220/0004960303090316 In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU-2014), pages 309-316 ISBN: 978-989-758-021-5 Copyright c  2014 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)