Comparative study of the information developed from messages containing picture and text

The aim of this research is to compare information content in descriptions made by subjects aged 10-12 based on messages with written and iconic language and messages with written language alone. To do so, Meyer's content analysis based on the semantic network - a structure that shows the importance of words and ideas in a given text and the relations between them - was applied. The results confirm the different types of behavior of the subjects involved in the experiments faced with different stimuli when they write their descriptions, and suggest, in this case, that the written message is more open as compared to the more complete and closed verbal-iconic message. Additionally, the written part of the stimuli in general defines a context of interpretation with greater integrating power, allowing one to couple the data referring to image with the concert defined by the stimulus coherently. Finally, the dependence/independence cognitive style does not affect the results obtained in any way.