Can we affect cognitive skills through visual media? An hypothesis and initial findings

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Do visual communication media have any power of affecting cognition and perception? Can communication media be made to have such effect? There are numerous speculations concerning the ways media affect cognition. At present we will disregard influences which stem from the contents conveyed by mass media, as studied for instance by Schramm, Lyle, and Parker (1961). We will also disregard shaping of cognition in terms of differential strengthening of particular modes of information processing, while weakening others (e.g., Travers, 1970). Rather, we will focus on the effects that specific modes of communication, which characterize different media, may have on the minds of those who are exposed to them-that is, the development of certain covert representational capacities which are relatable to modes of visual communication. More specifically, we wish to examine the question of whether the