A simulated art history textbook reading assignment was designed to examine the effects of visual information on student learning and understanding. A sample of 234 students was taken from a population of freshman/sophomore English students in a large metropolitan community college district. In phase one of the study, students took the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT), which contained geometric figures embedded in a background. During phase two, students were randomly assigned to one of two different groups in which the treatments were two 1500-word expository prose passages. The difference between the two treatments was in the number of pictures; although the picture subject matter was identical, one treatment included additional close-up photographs and illustrations. Students were asked to visualize the pictures of vases that they had read about, then to draw each vase and write down every word recalled from the reading. Results suggest that when subjects are asked to recall pictures of single objects, most subjects can successfully execute in drawings a reasonable likeness of what they have seen and that subjects' performance is differentially reflected on the basis of both cognitive style and picture design factors. Eight figures depict study results. (Contains 27 references.) (AEF)