Editing Picture superiority effect (section)

===Nelson – Sensory semantic theory===

Pictures hold two encoding advantages over words. Pictures are perceptually more distinct from one another than words, thus increasing their chance for retrieval. In experiments when similarity among pictures was high, no picture superiority effect was present. Pictures are also believed to assess meaning more directly than words.  Levels of processing theory apply when words and pictures are compared under semantic study instructions (rate the pleasantness of each item), recall is very similar for pictures and words, as both were encoded at deeper levels.<ref name="McBride"/>

Picture superiority results from superior encoding for pictures over words, which facilitates greater recollection of pictures.<ref name="curran"/>