Picture Superiority Effect
The finding that images are far more likely to be remembered than words alone. If you want something to stick, show it — don't just say it.
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Origin
Roger Shepard established the empirical foundation in 1967, showing participants recognised photographs at ~97% accuracy versus ~88% for words. Allan Paivio of the University of Western Ontario then provided the theoretical explanation in his 1971 book Imagery and Verbal Processes: pictures encode into both verbal and visual memory systems simultaneously, doubling their retrieval chances. Paivio and Csapo formally named the "picture-superiority effect" in a 1973 paper.
Updated February 22, 2026