Aids to Audience Decision Making 169Captions for Images
Similar to the way titles and headings aid text comprehension by activating the appropriate schema,
captions can aid the activation of schemata needed for comprehending pictures and graphs. For
this reason, students reading science textbooks with captioned illustrations can outperform those
reading the same textbooks with illustrations that lack captions.^261 Captioned pictures are especially
effective at capturing readers’ attention. When a caption about health risks accompanies graphic
imagery on cigarette packets, readers cannot easily divert their attention away from the packets’
warning labels.^262
Captions can also dramatically increase viewers’ recall. In an innovative study of the importance ofcaptions to image recall, viewers were invited to look at two sets of line drawings of unintelligible
objects called “droodles.” A droodle is a hard-to-interpret drawing that has a funny meaning.^263
One set of drawings included explanatory captions for each drawing, the other set did not. View-
ers recalled 70% of the captioned drawings, but only 51% of the drawings without captions. The
authors conclude that a good memory for drawings and pictures depends on the audience’s ability
to interpret their meaning.^264 The two droodles in Figure 4.3 lack captions. Can you guess what
is depicted in them?
The strategic use of captions can change how viewers interpret the pictures and charts theysee.^265 For example, a chart depicting a sharp rise in a fi rm’s stock price may have a dramatically
different effect on investors than normal if its caption reads “Short-term gains have already hap-
pened.” In case you’re still wondering, Droodle A is “A duck playing a trombone in a telephone
booth.” B is “An early bird who caught a very strong worm.”
Aids to Information Acquisition
After the appropriate schema for making a decision has been activated, audience members begin
the information-acquisition process and start searching for the information their schema requires.
Section headings, global organizations, and formats that are schema based, or task based , can aid the
audience’s information-acquisition process.
FIGURE 4.3 How easy are these drawings to comprehend without captions?
Source: Bower, Karlin, and Dueck (1975, p. 217)