The effect of text–picture consistency on memory integration in college students: Evidence from ERPs

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

BACKGROUND: In multimedia learning, individuals often need to integrate textual and visual information. The neural mechanisms underlying how consistency between text and pictures affects memory integration remain unclear. AIM: To examine the effect of text-picture consistency on memory integration in college students and to determine the processing time at which this effect occurs. SAMPLE: = 21.64 ± 2.30) participated in this experiment. METHODS: An adapted pictorial demonstration paradigm was employed. Participants sequentially learned two pairs of text-picture stem facts (consistent vs. inconsistent), separated by an interval, followed by a recognition test for stem and integrated facts. Behavioural and event-related potential (ERP) data were recorded simultaneously. RESULTS: Under the text-picture consistency condition, college students showed significantly better memory integration performance than under the inconsistency condition (58% vs. 48%). EEG results showed that the text-picture inconsistency condition (i.e., the picture and text within a single stem fact were semantically mismatched) elicited a larger P600 wave (500-800 ms) than the text-picture consistency condition, suggesting that text-picture inconsistency primarily induces conflict and integration difficulties during late cognitive processing. No significant differences were observed in the early N400 component. CONCLUSION: Text-picture consistency facilitates memory integration primarily during late processing, aligning with cognitive theories of multimedia learning. Educationally, it serves as a key quality indicator for multimedia material design. Instructors should prioritize semantic alignment and assess knowledge integration during evaluation.