Dual Coding: How to Study With Words and Visuals

Dual coding is a study technique where you represent the same idea in two forms, words and a visual, and connect them. You read about the water cycle, then draw it with arrows and labels in your own words. Later you can recall it through either route: the explanation or the picture.

The idea comes from psychologist Allan Paivio's dual coding theory, which proposes that the mind handles verbal and visual information in separate but linked systems. Richard Mayer's research on multimedia learning later showed that well-designed words-plus-pictures teach more than words alone. The catch is "well-designed": a decorative doodle does nothing, and a cluttered page can make learning harder.

This guide covers the theory and evidence, why dual coding is not the same as "visual learning styles", examples for different subjects, a worked set of dual-coded notes, and a routine you can use today.

What is dual coding theory?

Paivio set out dual coding theory in his 1971 book Imagery and Verbal Processes, building on his memory experiments of the 1960s. It proposes two systems for representing knowledge:

• A verbal system for words and language: the word "dog", a definition, a sentence.
• A nonverbal (imagery) system for pictures, shapes, and spatial layouts: the image of a dog, a map, a diagram.

The two systems are connected. Hearing "dog" can call up an image, and seeing a dog can call up the word. Information stored in both systems has two ways to be retrieved, so it's more likely to be remembered.

The theory grew out of findings that are still taught today:

• Concrete words are remembered better than abstract ones. "Button" is easier to recall than "bound", because you can picture it.
• Pictures are remembered better than words. This is the picture superiority effect. Paivio and his colleague Csapo argued that the verbal and image codes have independent, additive effects on recall.

For studying, the practical message is simple: when you add a visual that genuinely shows the same idea, and connect it to the words, you give yourself a second way back to the memory.

What does the research say about dual coding?

Words with pictures beat words alone

In 1991, Richard Mayer and Richard Anderson showed college students with no mechanical background an animation of how a bicycle tire pump works. Students who heard the explanation while watching the animation did better on problem-solving questions about the pump than students who heard the words before the animation, saw the animation without words, or heard the words without the animation. The authors read this as support for dual coding: learning improves when verbal and visual representations are built and linked at the same time.

That study became one of the foundations of Mayer's cognitive theory of multimedia learning. In a 2024 review, Mayer summarized its core ideas: people have separate channels for verbal and visual information, each channel has limited capacity, and meaningful learning means selecting the relevant material, organizing it, and integrating the words and pictures with what you already know.

Keep words and pictures close together

Paul Ginns's 2006 meta-analysis of 50 studies looked at what happens when related words and pictures are placed close together in space (labels on the diagram rather than in a legend) or in time (explanation during the animation rather than before it). Reducing that split attention produced substantial learning gains, especially for complex material.

Drawing it yourself helps memory

Making the visual yourself seems to add something extra, much as producing an answer beats reading it (the generation effect). In seven experiments, Jeffrey Wammes and colleagues found that people remembered words they drew better than words they wrote out, and the benefit wasn't fully explained by deeper processing, visual imagery, or the picture superiority effect alone. In a 2023 classroom study with 145 students in an introductory biology course, Jalava, Wammes, and Cheng asked students to either draw or copy definitions of course terms. Drawn terms were recalled better one week later, and the advantage was still there at three weeks.

Where the evidence is weaker

Dual coding isn't magic, and two limits matter:

• More visuals can mean more load. Weinstein, Madan, and Sumeracki note in their review that every extra representation adds to cognitive load and can overwhelm learners, and that memorable but irrelevant content can hurt learning of the main ideas. One clear diagram beats five decorative ones. See cognitive load theory for why.
• Mental imagery alone is limited. When Dunlosky and colleagues reviewed study techniques in 2013, they rated "imagery use for learning text" (picturing what you read) as low utility, because the benefits were mostly limited to imagery-friendly material and memory tests. Drawing and diagramming are more active than imagining, but the lesson carries over: dual coding pays off most when the content has a structure you can actually draw.

You may also see a claim that adding pictures raises recall from 10% to 65%. We couldn't trace that figure to a study of students learning course material, so don't plan around it.

Is dual coding the same as being a visual learner?

No. Dual coding says that combining words and visuals helps learning in general. The "learning styles" idea says each person learns best in a preferred mode (visual, auditory, or kinesthetic), so teaching should match it. A 2008 review by Harold Pashler and colleagues found no good evidence for that matching; our learning styles myth article covers the details.

The practical upshot: a labeled diagram of the heart helps a self-described "auditory learner" too. Don't skip dual coding because you think you're "not a visual person," and don't rely on it alone because you think you are.

Dual coding examples by subject

The visual should match the structure of the idea. A process wants arrows; a sequence wants a timeline; a comparison wants side-by-side columns.

Common formats worth having in your toolkit: timelines, flowcharts, cycles, labeled diagrams, graphs, comparison tables, concept maps, and mind maps. If you want a reference map to check your own drawing against, an AI mind map generator can build one from your notes. For anatomy-heavy courses, see how to study anatomy.

Worked example: dual-coded notes on blood sugar control

Here's how to turn a paragraph of notes into dual-coded notes.

Words only (your lecture notes): When blood glucose rises after a meal, beta cells in the pancreas release insulin. Insulin helps muscle and fat cells take up glucose and helps the liver store it as glycogen, so blood glucose falls. When blood glucose drops between meals, alpha cells release glucagon, which makes the liver break down glycogen and release glucose, so blood glucose rises again.

Step 1: Find the structure. This is a balance: two opposite responses pulling toward one target level. That suggests a horizontal "normal" line with one loop above it and one below.

Step 2: Sketch it. Draw a horizontal line across the middle of the page. Above it, draw the "after a meal" loop: an up arrow, the pancreas, insulin, the muscle and liver, then an arrow back down to the line. Below it, mirror the loop for fasting: a down arrow, the pancreas, glucagon, the liver, then an arrow back up.

Step 3: Label it in your own words, right on the drawing.

Step 4: Explain it once, out loud, pointing at each part. If you stumble ("wait, which cells make glucagon?"), fix the label.

Step 5: Tomorrow, cover it and redraw it from memory. Then compare with your original and correct it in a different color. This is where most of the learning happens, because you're retrieving both the words and the structure.

Notice that the sketch shows something the paragraph hides: insulin and glucagon are mirror images around one line. That's the structure an exam question about "what happens in type 1 diabetes?" expects you to reason with.

Common dual coding mistakes

Decorating instead of explaining. A picture of a cell next to a paragraph about mitosis isn't dual coding unless the picture shows the stages. Ask: does this visual carry information the words describe?

Copying the textbook diagram. Copying is slow and passive. Redraw a simplified version from memory after studying the original, then compare.

Separating labels from the picture. A numbered diagram with a key at the bottom makes your eyes jump back and forth. Put the words on or next to the part they describe.

Cramming everything onto one page. If a visual needs 30 labels, split it into two or three smaller ones. Remember the load problem.

Forcing visuals onto material without structure. A list of vocabulary words doesn't need a flowchart; use flashcards and spaced review instead. For a long list you must recall in order, try a memory palace for long lists, which puts imagery to work along a familiar route. For an abstract idea with nothing to draw, concrete examples often work better than a forced diagram.

Never testing yourself. A beautiful set of visual notes that you only reread works like any other rereading. The benefit comes when you reproduce it from memory.

How to use dual coding in a 20-minute study session

1. Read or review one section (5 minutes). Mark the one idea that has a structure: a process, a sequence, a comparison, a set of parts.
2. Choose the visual (1 minute). Process → flowchart. Sequence → timeline. Parts → labeled diagram. Comparison → two columns or a Venn diagram. Change over time → graph.
3. Draw and label (8 minutes). Use simple shapes and arrows. Write labels in your own words directly on the drawing. Use color only for meaning (for example, red for inputs, blue for outputs).
4. Explain it aloud (2 minutes). Walk through the drawing as if teaching someone. Each arrow should have a "because."
5. Close your notes and redraw it (4 minutes). Then check and correct. Next session, start by redrawing it again before you look at anything.

That last step turns dual coding into active recall. You can also put the visual on a flashcard: a diagram with one label blanked out, or a blank outline with "Draw the pathway." Our guide on how to use flashcards effectively covers image cards.