The results of this experiment showed that when the study and test locations were matched, performance significantly improved. Although this finding nicely replicates earlier investigations, there was another fascinating discovery: The effect did not differ between the physical and mental image trials. In other words, the benefits of imagining a location were comparable to the benefits of experiencing that location again.

This may be good news for schools. It is likely that the diagrams, images, and photos used in class to teach a particular content will help students remember that content during the exams, even if they no longer have access to the image during testing.

Another recent piece of research (4) found similar results. In that study, 204 university students were asked to listen to 20 statements that were completely new to them. Half of the participants were instructed to rate how easy the statements were to pronounce. The other half rated how easy it was to form a mental image of the statement. With this manipulation, the experimenters prompted participants to either focus on the auditory elements or on the imagery elements of the statements. Then, students answered a series of questions about the statements.

Results showed that the group prompted to mentally visualize the statements answered the questions two times more accurately than the group that focused on the auditory information. (This research also demonstrated that students’ “learning styles” had no influence whatsoever on their performance, but this is another story!).

These findings suggest that mental imagery is an effective learning strategy and that stimulating students to do so, rather than focusing on the words only, may enhance their understanding of the content.

The use of images and imagination has also been shown to facilitate reading comprehension. A literature review (5) concluded that creating images of texts helps students of different age groups to understand the texts. This appears to be true when the images are drawn on paper and also when they are imagined.

In the case of drawings, children seem to benefit from having a support illustration. For example, a study (6) found that drawing your own image and then comparing it to an illustration provided by the teacher is more beneficial to learning than drawing alone. The effects of drawing have been demonstrated in combination with scientific texts, but more research is needed to understand its influence on comprehension of other types of texts.